Trials of Friendship
by Princess-of-Neverland
Summary: "You're asking me to gamble with their lives?"
1. Chapter 1

**Trials of Friendship**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing excep some whispering voices and Lord of Darkness**

**Tai Pov**

Tai liked to still think of himself as the leader digidestined. This was why he still felt it was his responsibility to make sure all the new digidestined were coping with everything. He had great faith in them all but that didn't stop him worrying, especially when his younger sister Kari was also part of the new digidestined group.

So when he saw Davis walking out of school with a particularly serious expression he was more than slightly concerned. Davis was well known for his nonchalant attitude and rarely took anything seriously. However, plainly something was bothering the usually optimistic digidestined.

"Hey Davis, what's up?" he ran over to the lone figure

"Oh hey, Tai" Davis replied glumly

"Is everything ok?" he raised a concerned eyebrow

"Yeah, I guess it's just...it's been over a week and I haven't seen Ken anywhere" Davis answered meekly

"Well he does live all the way in Tomachi"

"I tried emailing and calling but he just won't answer. Something's wrong. I can feel it"

From Davis' tone it sounded as if he had voiced his concerns to the others and they hadn't taken him seriously. Tai had memories of that from when he'd been the leader of the digidestined but at least at the time he'd had Kari to support him. Right, now it sounded as if Davis wasn't getting that support from the others.

Tai felt a surge of anger and frustration at the idea the others might not have listened to Davis. If Davis was worried about Ken then it was for a reason. The most important thing a digidestined had to do was trust his or her instincts. Davis had good instincts that had never led the team astray before. Afterall, he'd been right about Ken changing. So why weren't the other digidestined listening now?

"Have you tried his house?" Tai pressed

"Yeah, yesterday before I waited outside his school. His mum was the one asking me if I knew where Ken was and the other students haven't seen him for days. I swear I checked every inch of Tomachi and Odaiba" Davis groaned

"What did you tell his mum?" Tai was now listening attentively

"That I'd forgotten he was staying the night at T.K's and was sorry for bothering her"

That didn't sound good. If Davis had felt the need to lie to Ken's mum about his whereabouts and his classmates hadn't seen him then he had probably been gone for a while. Ken was naturally quite shy and uncomfortable around the others so it was often hard to get a read on him. However, Davis seemed to have some insight to the boy that the others lacked.

"Did you tell the others that Ken's mum hasn't seen him either?" Tai queried

"Yeah but they thought he might have just been late coming home or something"

Davis didn't sound especially taken by that idea and Tai didn't blame him. If no one had seen Ken in a while then it looked like he really was missing. This meant that the digidestined had to deal with this immediately especially if it had something to do with the digital world. They couldn't risk members of the public involved if it really had something to do with the digiworld (and Tai would be shocked if it wasn't).

"I'll have a word with the others and then we can all go looking for Ken tomorrow"

He promised Davis who looked unbelievably relieved at his comforting words. It just annoyed Tai more that the others had dismissed Davis' opinion about Ken so quickly. He strongly doubted that they had actually listened to him. Well, Tai was certainly going to make them listen if it was the last thing he did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Davis POV**

_Indigo hair had fallen across his face in an effort to hide the piercing blue eyes that were dilated as tears poured from them. His body was writhing in pain and torment. His movement was so restricted that it was as if he were being bound by his personal torment._

_"I'm sorry, Davis"_

"KEN!"

Davis sat bolt upright in bed. His spiky scarlet hair stuck up in wild untidiness. His breathing rate had accelerated and his pulse was beating rapidly. Cold sweat was pouring down from the back of his neck fearfully.

"Davis are you ok?" demi-veemon pulled himself on his partners leg.

Davis felt a little bit guilty for waking the digimon up for at least the third night in a row. He wasn't usually on edge so he was probably frightening demi-veemon even more with the way he'd been acting. He could tell that his digimon was just as uneasy about the disappearance of his DNA digivolving partner as Davis was and his own reaction wasn't helping.

"I can't take this anymore demi-veemon. I know Tai said he'd talk to the others tomorrow but I just can't wait that long. Ken needs my help and I'm going after him!"

Davis randomly started pulling out clothes from his drawers and getting dressed while his mind was completely on autopilot. He'd already begun fumbling for his signature goggles as he pulled out his digivice and D-terminal.

"Just out of interest, what's the plan?" demi-veemon chirped

"I've checked everywhere in this world so he has to be in the digital world. All we need to do is go there and bring him back" he responded determinedly

"But how are we going to get to the digiworld?"

Demi-veemon had a fair point. The only way he knew of getting to the digiworld was through the school computer. It might not go down too well if he had to explain to the principal that he had broken into the school to rescue his friend who was trapped in another world and the only way to access the world was through the school computers. Even in his head it sounded crazy! Although the principal might be too shocked that he had come into school early to actually care about the reason.

"Damn! I wish for once a digiport would just open here!"

Suddenly a bright blue light emanated from his digivice and pointed directly at his computer. The screen started to glow with light from the digivice. Then some sort of picture struggled to appear on the screen. It was too hazy to see at first but as the light got stronger the picture became clearer.

"Is that what I think it is?" demi-veemon asked in a hushed tone

It wasn't possible and defied all they had learnt about travelling to the digital world. However, for some unknown reason it seemed someone had decided to grant Davis' wish.

"Alright! Digiport open!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Tai POV**

"Has Davis spoken to you or the others about Ken?"

Tai sat on the bed beside his sister. Kari's room was a stereotypical girl's bedroom. It was an explosion of pink. Everything about it was just so cute! It made it difficult to remind himself that Kari wasn't a little girl anymore.

"Yeah! He seems so determined that something's wrong but I don't know. It's a long way from Tomachi and it's not like Ken actively seeks us out unless it's something to do with the digital world"

What his sister had said was very logical in itself. However, it was also evidence that she hadn't listened to Davis. He could hardly believe it. Kari was famous for caring too much about people. However, she had chosen now to be sceptical. Now that she was needed she hadn't even paid attention?

"Davis has tried contacting Ken more than once already and he hasn't answered him. No one at school's seen him for days and his mum thinks he staying at TK's" Tai pointed out firmly.

_"Have you heard from Ken?" _

_Davis asked apprehensively as they served the students in the lunch cue. She knew that he had deliberately gotten detention to talk to her privately (for different reasons than usual). Out of all of the other digidestined Kari had been the one he thought would listen._

_"I'm sure he's fine Davis" she sighed_

_"But Kari..."_

"You really think Ken's in trouble?" She blushed at the memory.

If there was anyone Tai trusted to take his role as leader of the digidestined it was Davis. He could be counted on to look after the others and wouldn't back down from a fight. Davis was probably the only one of the new digidestined who would be able to cope with the tough decisions ahead. Like Tai, he understood that doing the right thing wasn't always easy. However, he had a good instinct that made things clear for him to make the right decision.

"He's been right about Ken before now. I think we should trust him"


	4. Chapter 4

**Davis POV**

"Where are we?" demi-veemon squeaked

Davis and demi-veemon were stuck in a sand storm of sunshine. His goggles were now being used as more than a style icon. He wasn't sure whether he was being blinded by sand or sun. Either way, his poor digimon was probably suffering a lot worse than he was. He just wanted to find Ken and get out of here. He knew his friend needed him but he would be helpless unless he could see anything beyond a blur of shadow.

"I don't know! I can't see a thing! Argh! How are we supposed to find Ken in this?" Davis bellowed

As if the desert had been waiting for those words the sand lay still upon the ground and the sun was hidden peacefully behind a cloud. Now his sight was restored he could see that demi-veemon had digivolved to veemon and was staring at the barren landscape. An endless sight of nothing lay before them.

"That was cool! Let me try! I wish for some jelly donuts"

Veemon held up his arms to the sky with unrealistic optimism. Davis struggled not to laugh at veemon's disappointment at not finding a platter of jelly donuts falling from the sky. However, the digimon's face was so forlorn that Davis felt the need to give him a quick pat on the back before they proceeded.

"That doesn't make any sense"

He let veemon peer over to see the familiar purple dot symbolising Ken on Davis' digivice. On the positive side the purple dot on the digivice meant he was right and Ken was in the digital world. On the negative side it looked as if Ken wasn't in the digiworld.

How could Ken be in the digital world and not in the digital world at the same time? Logic wasn't Davis' strong point but even he was fairly confident that this went against all the laws of science. If that really was true then how could he help Ken?


	5. Chapter 5

**Tai POV**

"Hey!"

Tai hailed the new digidestined as he walked in with Izzy, Matt and Sora. He wasn't impressed by the way things had been handled. Therefore, he'd decided to bring some back up. He was glad he had when he noticed the sheepish looks on the new digidestined's faces.

"Where's Davis?" Tai asked looking at them fiercely

"No one's seen him all day" Kari answered remorsefully

"What?"

He froze at his sister's words. One of the reason's he got on so well with Davis was because he reminded Tai of his younger self. As much as he would like to believe otherwise, his younger self would not have been patient enough to wait the rest of the team's help. The courage he'd demonstrated all those years ago had been borderline reckless. Often he'd jumped into a situation without thinking. Those were the same traits that Davis had.

"Where would he have gone?" Sora asked nervously

"I think we can safely assume that wherever Ken is, Davis will be close by" Izzy answered firmly

"Yeah, the only problem with that is we have no idea where Ken is" Matt pointed out

Tai could tell that the new digidestined were all feeling incredibly guilty. Now that four of the older digidestined were here monitoring the situation they were feeling inadequate. This was how they should have handled the disappearance of Ken. If they'd done that sooner, then Davis wouldn't have been forced to carry out his own personal rescue mission.

"He must have made some sort of guess where Ken was before he went to hunt for him. Tai, did Davis mention anywhere he'd checked?"

Tai racked his brains trying to remember exactly what Davis had said. It was difficult to concentrate when two digidestined were missing. He was supposed to have the crest of courage. He needed to be courageous now. However, all he could think of was all the stupid messes Davis could have gotten himself into.

"He said he checked both Odaiba and Tomachi. Specifically, Ken's house and school. He seemed really worried" Tai sighed feeling useless

"Where would he go if he searched both of Tomachi and Odaiba?" TK stared at his older brother

There was one answer. If Davis had searched everywhere Ken could be in this world then the only place left to check was one out of this world.


	6. Chapter 6

**Davis POV**

He was struggling to keep his nerve. Davis was more than ready to admit that. He frequently gave the impression that he had no fears or insecurities but that wasn't true. Secretly, Davis was afraid of one thing and one thing only. The idea that someone he cared about was in danger and being unable to save them. Just thinking of that made him shiver.

"You ok, Davis?" veemon eyed him closely

"I'd just hoped we'd have found Ken by now" he sighed

"Don't worry. We'll find him"

Hearing the confidence in his digimon's voice relieved the tension marginally. Veemon knew him and always said exactly what Davis needed to hear. There was no one else Davis trusted his private thoughts to other than veemon. Although, Ken came pretty close.

"Where's that smell coming from?" veemon perked up

"What smell?" he asked surprised by the interruption of his reverie

"That smell"

Davis sniffed eagerly as he heard veemon's words. The smell was beautifully intoxicating. The way it washed over him made him feel tranquil and relaxed for the first time in days. It was so sweet and addictive as it dulled his tired mind. The smell closed in like a silent fog that draped over all his thoughts.

"I don't know" he admitted

"It's making me feel all sleepy"

Veemon was right. It was weird. He'd spent over three nights trying to get a decent amount of sleep and found it impossible. Yet now he was completely overcome by a strong wave of drowsiness. His whole body felt weak and weary. He couldn't fight his drooping eyelids much longer.

He curled up on the ground and rested his head on the tree trunk. His eyelids fluttered closed almost immediately. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of veemon curling up inside his arms.


	7. Chapter 7

**Tai POV**

"Do you really think Davis would have gone to the digiworld on his own?" Yolei asked tentatively

Tai noticed that no one had bothered to reply to Yolei's question. Going into the digital world alone was incredibly dangerous. Tai had gone alone when agumon had sent him an emergency call. He had almost immediately regretted not calling the other digidestined for help. He was fairly sure if Kari, TK and Davis hadn't come along he wouldn't have made it back home.

This place was filled with danger constantly. Although, there were plenty of good digimon, there were also plenty of evil digimon. The digital world was constantly under threat and there was always something trying to upset the balance between the real world and digital world.

"That doesn't make any sense. Ken is in the digiworld and not in the digiworld?"

TK gasped as he stared at his confused digivice. The others all instantly checked their digivice's. Sure enough the purple dot was off the digital map.

"That's impossible" Izzy leant over TK's shoulder for closer inspection

The look he then gave Tai confirmed that apparently the impossible was actually possible. He felt exasperated at this piece of news. Either the digivices were broken and the rest of the digidestined had no idea where Ken and Davis were or the digivices were telling them that it would near impossible to find Ken and very soon near impossible to find Davis.

"Is Davis on there?" Tai asked uneasily

"Yeah, he's not far from Ken" Kari handed the digivice to him reassuringly

Finally, some good news! Even if they didn't know how Ken could possibly be in and not be in the digital world, Davis was definitely in the digital world. Hopefully, they could catch up with him and then they could all find Ken together.


	8. Chapter 8

**Davis POV **

_"Davis Motomiya, can you here us?" _

_There was the sound of hundreds of voices whispering like the wind in his ear. They surrounded him with an urgency in their tone. Each word was uttered like a secret that was meant only for him. He could feel their desperate pleading as he stirred in his sleep._

_"I can hear you" he murmured still unwilling to wake up_

_"Davis Motomiya you are in great danger by the same force that took the sixth digidestined"_

_Davis now sat bolt upright and looking around for the voices. He saw nothing but he was positive he really had heard those voices. Someone knew who had taken Ken? He didn't care how much danger he was in as long as the voices told him where Ken was. _

_"Who are you? Where's Ken?" He called into the night_

_A bright light burst in front of him. At first all he could see was the blinding white glow surrounding him. Then he saw thousands of white bubbles floating above him as they beamed like a lighthouse that shot through the falling night. _

_"We are the light that guards the digiworld. We are the powers who chose you to bear the crests of friendship and courage. It is we who gave you the power to DNA digivolve with the sixth digidestined. It is we who changed your digivice and made it stronger. It is we who have come to you for help"_

_Davis had a vague recollection of Kari and Izzy mentioning something about forces that guarded the digiworld and chose them to be the digidestined. However, he was still too tired to think and his mind was still focused on finding Ken._

_"What do you need my help for?" he queried wearily_

_"The forces need the darkness that once controlled the sixth digidestined. He has moved away from that darkness. If they try to take it he will die a slow painful death. Once they have that darkness there will be nothing to stop them from conquering the digiworld"_

_No pressure or anything then? He had known Ken was in trouble but this was beyond anything he could have imagined. He briefly toyed with the idea of contacting the others but decided against it. He wasn't sure they'd even believe him._

_"What am I supposed to do? I don't even know where Ken is" he groaned_

_"Your digivice will lead you to a portal. It leads to the world of darkness. The crest of light bearer calls it the dark ocean. She was once taken there to use her light to bind the dark world. She did not succeed. This is where the sixth digidestined is being held."_

_Kari's dark ocean? He remembered her telling him about it. He could still recall the haunted look in her eyes as she had described even the light as being dark and that everything surrounding it had been like a "negative photograph". If that's where Ken was then he needed to help him._

_"The dark forces will try to trick you. Right now they have created a field of sleep to deter you from him. A long time ago, for your protection we gave you the golden digiegg, also known as the digiegg of miracles. It calls to us when we are needed and will help you save your friend"_

_This was a lot to take in. He assumed that they were referring to the digiegg he had taken from the digimon emperor's base. He had felt it's power as it had glowed just like the bubbles of light were doing now._

_"Davis Motomiya, Bearer of the crests of friendship and courage, it is time for you to wake. When you do you must remember all we have told you. Wake up, Davis Motomiya, wake up"_

"Veemon" he gave the digimon a hard shove

"Hey, what's the big idea?"

It was quite funny to see the stern frown on the normally happy digimon's face. His hands were on his hips in the way that June usually did when she was lecturing about video games turning the brain to mush.

"I know where Ken is"

Davis picked himself up and started running in the direction of the purple dot. Veemon quickly picked up the pace delighted to see him once again in control. It was unnerving for Davis to be as serious has he had been in the more recent nights.


	9. Chapter 9

**Tai Pov**

"Looks like Davis is on the move again" TK said as he cast a look at his digivice

"Where's he headed?" Tai jumped on the comment

"I don't know but wherever it is he's moving fast" Cody answered

That must mean he'd either worked out a way to get to Ken or he was in some sort of danger. When it came to Davis you could never predict which it would be. Tai hoped with all his heart it was the former.

"If Davis ever does this again, I'm going kill him" Tai scowled

"Calm down Tai, I'm sure he's fine" Sora told him consolingly

He didn't find it very consoling. Davis was a great guy and a great digidestined. He'd mentored Davis on soccer and what it meant to be a digidestined. He wished he'd toned down just how important it was to look after each other. Maybe, then Davis wouldn't have gone gallivanting off.

"I'm sorry Tai, we didn't mean to let you down" Kari's eyes were swimming with tears

"It's ok and Sora's right, Davis is probably fine"

He wished he believed that. The only reason he was telling Kari all this was because he always felt so guilty when she cried. She always took it too much to heart when her mistakes put other people at risk. Tai would be the first to admit that Kari had made a massive error in judgement but she also hadn't done it deliberately.

"It looks like he's not far from Ken" Cody told them excitedly

"Yeah but that's still a really long way from us" Tai reminded them

Tai knew his negative attitude was making the new digidestined feel worse but he just couldn't help it. He would not be happy until he'd slapped Davis so hard with his own goggles that the kid suffered permanent brain damage.


	10. Chapter 10

**Davis POV**

"Is this it?"

Davis didn't blame veemon for sounding unimpressed. They were standing on a cliff that overlooked a glorious sunlit beach. The deep blue of the sky camouflaged with the waves. He watched as they lapped happily on the rocks and washed away the sandcastles.

"We're supposed to see some sort of portal"

He was very well aware of the fact that he probably sounded crazy. He had woken veemon up and dragged him to the beach, with no plan, claiming there was a non-existant portal. The whole thing seemed ridiculous but according to the digivice he was right on track.

_"I'm sorry, Davis"_

He froze. He would know that fragile voice anywhere. It sounded so close he could almost reach out for it. He hoped this wasn't the dark forces messing about with him. He didn't think he could handle it if he had been tricked. He'd be completely lost if he was too late to save Ken.

"Ken where are you?" he whispered soundlessly

Suddenly the air began to shimmer. It was so subtle Davis almost didn't notice it but he was glad that he did. It was like a rainbow pouring out pools of light and colour. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

"I guess this is it. Are you ready veemon? On the count of 3"

He cast a quick glance at veemon and smiled at the determined expression pasted across his face. The little digimon's jaw was set and his gentle red eyes glinted. He nodded to signal he was ready when Davis was.

"1, 2...3!"

They jumped through the shimmering air.


	11. Chapter 11

**Tai POV**

"Want the good news or the bad news?" TK asked apprehensively

"Good news"

He wasn't certain if he could handle much more bad news. For someone with the crest of courage he wasn't feeling very courageous. He was honestly trying to shake off all the fear that was growing inside him. However, he could feel the presence of danger following them everywhere.

"Davis is in the same area as Ken and he's getting really close"

If Davis was still moving then he was still alive and might be able to rescue Ken from wherever he was. Unfortunately, Ken's dot hadn't budged ever since they'd arrived in the digital world so this must mean that Davis had dropped off the map too.

"One thing I still don't understand is how Davis managed to get there on his own" Izzy mused

"What do you mean?" Cody asked puzzled

"Tai approximately what time was it when you last saw Davis?"

"About 5:30. We talked for about fifteen minutes before I told him I'd talk to you guys. Then I left him to walk home" he mimicked Cody's confusion

He knew that look. It was the classic Izzy look. Whenever he saw that look it meant Izzy was on the verge of figuring something out.

"So if we go by Tai's timeframe until about 5:45 Davis definitely hadn't seen Ken and, even if we assume Davis didn't actually go home, there is no possible way he could have gotten back to school before it was locked. I think we can also assume Davis didn't break in because otherwise someone would have noticed"

If Izzy was right then Davis had found another way to enter the digital world that was not via the school computer system. If he had taken a different route it would be a lot harder to find him. Even if the digivices were directing them in the right way then it would take them longer to find Davis.

"So Davis got in another way? What does that mean?" he asked agitatedly

"It means that whatever route Davis took led him to Ken"

So then it wasn't impossible to find the two missing digidestined. They just had to find whatever route Davis had taken and then they could bring the two back to safety. He hoped that their digivices were leading them to whatever route Davis had taken.

"What's that smell?" Armadillomon sniffed

"I don't know but it's making me feel tired" Yolei settled down on the ground

"Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if we took a break" Matt yawned catching his wilting brother and patomon in his arms

"But guys... "

Tai didn't have the energy to finish the sentence. His mind clouded over and he found himself curling up on the ground beside Sora and falling asleep among the others.


	12. Chapter 12

**Davis POV**

The world was colourless. He was fairly confident that he was still on the same beach as he had been on only moments ago. Geographically it appeared to be the same. However, all the colour of that beach had appeared to have fled out of the world.

"So this is Kari's dark ocean? I don't blame her for freaking out" he muttered

It felt so cold and empty. Even his jacket couldn't block out the deathly cold that clawed away at him. He held veemon close to him to try and stop the icy temperature from hurting the little digimon. Unfortunately it appeared to have no more affect than his own jacket.

"Show me where Ken is" he ordered his digivice

It sort of worked. The familiar blue light now glowed as black as night as it directed Davis along the dark sandbanks. The hollow light followed the midnight line of the dark ocean.

"Ken! Ken! Ken!"

At this point he didn't really care who heard him. He didn't stop to wonder what it might mean if the dark forces were alerted to his presence. He truly was beyond caring. Every part of him felt like he was sinking into an endless winter of nightmares.

He stood outside a cave. His digivice was going hey wire. That meant Ken was here. After days of sleepless nights he was going to finally see Ken again. It was all going to be ok. He would take Ken back with him. Then they would go find Tai and the others. Ha! They'd be so embarrassed for not believing him and...

"Oh my God! KEN!"

Ken was lying on the floor in a pool of blood.


	13. Chapter 13

**Tai POV**

_"Tai Kamiya can you hear us?"_

_He opened his eyes blearily searching for the whispering voices. He began to wonder if he had dreamt them. Just as his eyes fluttered shut the voices started again. His eyes snapped open again._

_"Tai Kamiya can you hear us?" they begged in his ear_

_"Show yourself!" he ordered_

_All of a sudden blinding white bubbles were surrounding him. They floated down peacefully and emanated a beautiful light that pierced the darkness. They never hit the floor but blissfully floated contentedly around him._

_"Tai Kamiya, bearer of the crest of courage, past leader of the digidestined, you are in grave danger" the voices warned softly_

_"What do you mean?" he stood up a little too quickly_

_"You are in a trap created for the new digidestined leader to deter him from his quest"_

_Someone knew where Davis was? Damn, that sounded like the kid had managed to get himself in some sort of trouble. It sounded like whoever (or whatever) had taken Ken was after Davis too. Typical, Davis! Why was it that he seemed to attract trouble?_

_He didn't want to put the others in jeopardy if they really were in danger. However, he had trekked throughout the digiworld in search of Davis and he did not intend to leave without him. They needed all the information they could get and if these voices claimed to know who and where Davis was then he was going to tear them apart until they told him._

_"There is no need to threaten us Tai Kamiya. You could not win even if we wanted to fight you. No. We have no quarrel with you or any of the other digidestined. Our only interest is to protect the digital world from the dark forces" _

_If that was true then it sounded as if they were on the same side. They had specified that they had no intention to fight any of the digidestined. However, he needed to know where Davis and Ken were._

_"Are Davis and Ken alright?" Tai enquired unsteadily but more civilly _

_"Something has happened that has happened to cause the new digidestined leader to call to us" they sounded fearful_

_"What do you mean? Tell me what's happened to them!" Tai demanded aggressively_

_"They are in the world of darkness" they told him shakily_

_"The world of darkness? Do you mean like the dark ocean?" Tai asked alarmed_

_"Yes"_

_Tai felt as if he himself would fall into the darkness. His sister still had nightmares about that place. She wouldn't admit it but she cried out about it in her sleep. For this reason he never told her that he would often slide into her room and hold her hand until the nightmare passed._

_If another digidestined had to go through that Tai couldn't live with himself. They needed Davis to keep their spirits' raised which might not continue if the darkness crept up on him. Plus, it wasn't like Ken hadn't had enough to deal with either. Ken didn't need any more brushes with darkness._

_"How can we help them?" he trembled _

_"Have courage, old leader. The new digivices will lead you to a beach and at that beach is a portal. That portal is the only way to enter the world of darkness. This is where you will find the two digidestined"_

_That was the best news he had heard in years. He now knew not only where Davis was but where Ken was as well. Even if it had been established they were both in serious trouble it sounded as if there was still time to rescue them._

_"It is time to wake up Tai Kamiya. You are greatly needed. You need to wake up and leave. Wake up Tai Kamiya. Wake up"_


	14. Chapter 14

**Davis POV**

"God, Ken what happened?"

He knelt to the ground and raised Ken's head onto his lap gently. He brushed a few strands of hair from his face. It revealed blood splatters on his usual smooth skin and the pain as his beautiful blue eyes remained shut. He noticed parts of the flesh been had cut away. Every inch of Ken's body was shivering in pain.

"Davis, check out who I found" he swung around at the sound of veemon's voice

"Leafmon!" he scooped the familiar digimon into a one armed hug

"Is Ken ok? I don't see him" he looked worried as Davis shielded Ken from view

"Yeah, he's fine but we need you and veemon to keep a look out for a bit"

He knew neither digimon was buying that Ken was ok. He didn't care though. No one should have to see someone they cared about look as wounded as Ken was now. Whatever, they imagined had happened to Ken couldn't be as bad as the reality. He hoped if it had been him in Ken's position that Ken would lie and tell veemon he was ok. Even if he wasn't.

"Ken, listen buddy you've got to get up!"

The unconscious boy didn't show any sign that he'd even heard Davis. He remained as still and limp as ever. This angered Davis. It wasn't fair that he'd come all this way to find Ken like this. He didn't know how he would tell the others he'd failed. Or worse, how would he tell leafmon he didn't know how to help his partner.

No. He couldn't think like that. Everyone was counting on him to bring Ken back to safety. He had to believe he could do this. His role in the team had always been to remain strong and refuse to give up no matter what the odds were. He couldn't afford to stop doing that now.

"He won't wake"

A tall being descended into the cave holding up veemon and leafmon. Despite his growing fear he couldn't help noticing that this being didn't look much like a digimon. He was at loathe to admit it but if anything it seemed almost human.

"Who are you? And what have you done to him?" Davis yelled

"Me? I have done nothing! But as for who I am? I am quite literally your worst nightmare?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Tai POV**

"Hm. It sounds to me like those are the forces that guard the digiworld. These are the actual forces that improved the new digidestined's digivices and chose who the digidestined would be..."

When Tai had woken up the others and forced them to walk on they had not been very impressed. However, after telling them about the voices (and after an argument with Matt over whether the dream was real or not) they were all very interested especially Izzy. Unfortunately they were now all being subjected to Izzy's hypothesising.

"...of course they will be what keeps our world and the digiworld seperate. Can you imagine the problems it would cause if everyone knew about the digital world...?" Izzy rambled excitedly

"Izzy no offence but you're kind of giving us a headache"

Matt snapped testily. Clearly Tai's patience was not the only one wearing thin. It looked like Matt was getting tired of searching and starting to become almost as worried as Tai. Although, Matt didn't know Davis as well as he did, Tai knew that Matt had a soft spot for the digidestined who shared his crest.

"I'm sorry, Matt but I just thought..." Izzy began irritably

"Look! We're here!" Kari interrupted gleefully

"This is where the portal's supposed to be?"

Tai could tell that, although Yolei tried not too sound to sceptical, she had expected somewhere more frightening for a dark portal. Tai had to admit he had expected somewhere creepier than a quiet peaceful beach. However, the digivices seemed to agree they were in the right place.

"Look!"

Cody pointed to a gap between the rocks. At first it looked as if he were just pointing a patch of air. However, soon the others all spotted what had caught Cody's eye. The air was shimmering as if it were made of water and rainbows of light spilled out from it.

_"Who are you?"_

The digidestined all gasped at that tone. There was no mistaking who that cocky aggressive voice belonged to. It belonged to the person who they constantly loved to strangle and was always missed when it wasn't there. It was that voice that gave them hope.

"That's Davis! Come on" Tai bellowed as he led the others through the shimmering air


	16. Chapter 16

**Davis POV**

"If you were my worst nightmare then you'd be dressed up like my great aunt Martha. Now tell me who you are!" Davis snapped

"Me? I am the source of all evil! You may call me Lord of Darkness" the thing played with it's words amusedly

"I refuse to call anyone who hurts my friends _lord_!" he growled subconsciously holding Ken tighter

"YOU WHAT!" Darkness looked outraged

"You heard!"

Those weren't empty words of false bravery. He genuinely wasn't afraid (although, that may have something to do with his refusal to think about the danger). Somehow he knew that they were all going to get out of this ok. He wasn't going to let Ken or their digimon go. Even if he had to fight this thing single handedly. He was going to protect them even if it killed him.

"You fool. You really think a human like yourself can win against me?" Darkness snarled

"Veemon! Digivolve now!" he ordered heatedly

"Davis I can't" veemon squeaked

"No digimon can digivolve in this world. Not when there is no light to protect them. Leave now and I may take pity on you!" Darkness jeered

"NEVER!"

This thing couldn't really expect him to turn and leave. He had spent nights imagining the hell Ken could be going through. He'd been barely able to eat because every time he did the images of a helpless Ken made him physically sick. He had trekked through parts of the digiworld he'd never known existed just to find Ken. There was no way he was giving up.

"I see when the crests of friendship and courage are combined they create one reckless digidestined" Darkness smirked maliciously

"I see when they let creepy human things dressed in a halloween costume into the digiworld they turn evil" he scowled

"YOU WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU NEED A LESSON IN MANNERS...NIGHTMARE MIRAGE!"


	17. Chapter 17

**Tai POV**

"Oh no, we're at the dark ocean" Kari cried out

"This is where they brought you?" Gatomon looked worried

"Yeah" Kari replied nervously

Ok he did feel guilty for not telling Kari where the portal led to or what the world of darkness was. She was his little sister and he loved her more than words could say. However, when it came to saving the world he had to put his emotions on hold. It was his job to lead the digidestined and find a way to save the world. It was never easy to make decisions that might put the others at risk but he had to. Besides, they might need Kari to guide them.

_"I refuse to call anyone who hurts my friends lord!" _

_"YOU WHAT?"_

That did not sound like good news. On the contrary it sounded like Davis had just insulted one of the dark forces the digiworld guardians had mentioned. He had a strong hunch that whoever Davis had decided to hack off was unimpressed by the wisecrack.

"I can't pinpoint the voices" tentomon commented

"They're not showing up on our digivices" Yolei groaned

"The dark ocean must have an effect on the performance of our digivices. If that's true then I don't think our digimon will be able to digivolve either" Izzy chewed his lip awaiting Tai's reaction

He couldn't believe it. They had been so close to finding Ken and Davis but now they had no way of finding exactly where they were. Even worse, if there were any dark forces around then their digimon would be unable to protect them.

"I have an idea, Hawkmon, tentomon, patomon and I can fly overhead and see if we can see Davis or Ken" Biyomon suggested eagerly

"And the rest of us sit here and do nothing?" he said outraged

"Have you got a better idea?" Sora retorted sharply

No he didn't but it was physically impossible for him to sit in this freezing cold, colourless world and do nothing. It wasn't in his nature because for all agumon had said about him growing up he really hadn't. He was still the same stubborn headed idiot who needed to be in charge of every situation and secretly crushed on Sora.

That was another problem he shared with Davis. They were both in love with a girl who was obviously in love with one of the Ishida brothers. He had finally realised that Sora loved Matt and he couldn't change that. Davis still hadn't given up hope that Kari would one day love him (even if everyone else could tell she loved TK). He would never admit it to Matt but he secretly hoped that Kari would come to her senses and choose Davis. He was at least making his affections clear for her (unlike Tai who didn't have the guts to declare his love for Sora).

"Alright but come back as soon as you find anything"


	18. Chapter 18

**Davis POV**

Both digimon and Ken where shivering and moaning in agony as if they drowning in their own tears. This puzzled Davis. He had felt nothing. Clearly whatever was happening to the digimon and Ken, was supposed to affect him too. Yet, it didn't faze him in the slightest.

This had obviously made Darkness incredibly angry but despite the fury it appeared he had gained Darkness' curiosity. He realised this was probably a good way to buy time to think of a plan that might actually work. Despite it's rage, Darkness was evidently eager to know why (whatever it had done) hadn't worked on him.

"I must admit I am impressed. This world is made from all the darkest thoughts. In this world I can make a person's greatest fears, worries and sadness come to life. How can it be that you managed to evade that?" Darkness eyed him closely

"What do I have to be scared about? I've got great friends and family, I have a digimon I trust with my life and I know that somehow I'm going to get out of here and that it's all going to work out" Davis growled

"Impossible there's not a single child in the world who doesn't have something they're worried about" Darkness snapped

"Well you just met one. Congratulations, big and ugly, I guess you should go back to your magic act! I refuse to let you pull me into darkness"

Ok his life did have a few minor things he would like to change. For a start he would like Kari to realise TP was a loser and she was secretly in love with him. Secondly, he'd like to stop evil monsters/people trying to control the world. Finally, he would like to find a way to keep everyone he cared about safe forever.

Unfortunately those things weren't physically possible. Kari would always choose TL over him, there would always be someone trying to take over the world and no matter how hard he tried he wouldn't always be able to protect his friends.

However, he had learnt to accept this and do the best with the problems he had. Nothing could make him give up on anything. He wouldn't give up on Kari loving him, he wouldn't give up on battling evil and he wouldn't give up on saving the people he cared about. He wasn't always sure how to deal with it all but he would find a way to make it work until he'd fixed it.


	19. Chapter 19

**Tai POV**

He knew he was annoying everyone with his constant pacing. Except for Kari who seemed to appear more agitated with every step he took. However, he simply couldn't stop. Here they were just sitting around, while Ken and Davis could be in serious danger.

"You worry too much!" agumon stood in front of him

"I know. I just don't know why it's getting me to this badly" he whispered

"It's getting to you because you like Davis and you feel like you're the one responsible because you're a good friend. Just because you have the crest of courage doesn't mean you're not allowed to worry"

Agumon's words sounded meaningless. He could still hear the utter loathing in Davis' words just after they had entered the portal. Davis was a hot-head and very stubborn but Tai had never heard Davis sound that vicious before now. It made him nervous to think what kind of horrific being could have induced that tone...

_"I refuse to call anyone who hurts my friends lord!" _

_"YOU WHAT?"_

He prayed that Davis wouldn't let his temper get the better of him. Tai was usually glad that all the digidestined had the ability to stand up for what they believed in. However, Davis' stubborness was very risky when confronting danger. He would never think before he acted. Which might be why he was so brave.

"Look, Tai they're back!"

Tai's eyes snapped onto the sky horizon and immediately saw the outlines of biyomon, tentomon, hawkmon and struggling behind patomon. They fought the non-existent wind and pushed their way onwards. It wasn't until they landed on the ground that Tai realised he'd been holding his breath.

"Well?" he demanded

"Give them a second, Tai" Sora glared

"It's ok. We found where Davis, Ken, veemon and leafmon are. They're in some sort of cave" biyomon panted

"Are they hurt?" he pressed

"Davis and the other digimon look fine but Ken looks in a really bad way" patomon snuggled in TK's arms

"How do we get there?" Tai ran his fingers through his hair

"That's the thing. It appears there's some sort of force field surrounding the cave" Tentomon answered awkwardly

Tai heart dropped to his stomach. It didn't matter how close they were to Davis and the others because their presence was still futile. He was trying to fight off the despair that the dark ocean was drowning him in. He just wasn't sure if he had the strength to anymore. Not when he'd failed as a digidestined leader.

"We'll find a way to help them" Kari slipped her hand in his with a knowing look in her eyes


	20. Chapter 20

**Davis POV**

"You think you can save someone whose heart is poisoned with evil. Your efforts are pointless" Darkness sniggered

"You're wrong. He's good I know it!" He yelled

"And yet you know who I'm talking about?" Darkness smirked maliciously

"Everyone makes that mistake about him. He's not that person anymore!" Davis glared

"If it's a mistake then why does he keep returning here? Here, to a world created from pure evil and darkness" It cackled

"You think I'd be here if I didn't know the answer to that?"

_"Stay strong Ken. I know you have a lot of pain and confusion inside of you about the things you did as the digimon emperor but you're not that person anymore Ken. You thought the digital world was a game. You didn't realise you were hurting living creatures but you paid for your mistakes. We wouldn't be where we are without your help. You can't keep beating yourself up for all the things you did in the past, Ken. You've got to fight. You're stronger than that. Don't let fear and guilt rule your life anymore. We're here with you!"_

"A truly touching memory. However, even if your rationalising is true and the only reason Little Ichijouji here, was so easily taken back to the world of darkness is because he can't let go of his fear and guilt then surely he still belongs here for that very reason?"

Ken didn't belong here. It had taken all of Davis' strength and determination to reach Ken and make him understand he was not alone. He would find a way to show Ken he could let go of his fear and guilt. Ken couldn't wallow in despair forever. At least not as long as he was still standing.

"No. I will not abandon Ken"

"You interest me little digidestined. You are unaffected by my ability to bring your worst nightmare to life but nor can you win against me. Yet you refuse to spare yourself for a hopeless case" Darkness mulled thoughtfully

"That's me! I'm just one of a kind!" he retorted scathingly

He was wary of Darkness' train of thought. Especially as it appeared that, like the guardians of the digiworld, Darkness could read his mind. Albeit, Davis wasn't thinking anything that he hadn't already voiced. However, he was still uncomfortable with an evil being in a halloween costume reading his mind.

"Let's play a game!" It suggested slyly

"What do you mean?" he barked

"I give you three challenges. That's three chances to save their lives. For every challenge you win you can choose one life to save. However, if you lose at any point all three of them die!" it asked with a playful evil in his tone

"You're asking me to gamble with their lives?" he specified in a disgusted tone

"Do you have any other choice?"


	21. Chapter 21

**Tai POV**

Under his instructions, biyomon, tentomon, hawkmon and patomon were leading them to the cave where they had found Davis, Ken and their digimon. It was a long hike but Tai didn't care. He was just glad that they were doing something that felt productive.

"This is it!" hawkmon hovered in front of the entrance

Tai immediately saw the problem the digimon had when they'd gone in search for Davis and the others. As they tried to enter the cave it felt as if they had walked into an invisible door. No matter how hard he tried to force himself through it he could never succeed in passing through the entrance.

"I think we need a new plan" gabumon commented

"He's right, Tai. Trying to walk through the cave isn't working" Matt put a tender hand on Tai's shoulder

"What else can we do?" patomon hung his head sadly

"We can't give up" he snapped

"He's right! If it takes every one of my nine lives I'll make scratching posts out of these dark forces"

Tai met gatomon's eyes and knew she'd drawn the same parallel as he had. Gatomon was remembering how Kari been taken to the dark ocean and the nightmares she still had. For Tai the memories were still very raw. Knowing that Ken and Davis were missing was like nearly losing Kari all over again. Especially Davis. Not having Davis annoying him felt like a piece of himself had been stolen from him.

"I think I can hear voices coming from there" armadillomon said thoughtfully

"He's right" Cody confirmed excitedly

Tai wriggled to the floor and listened. His ears pricked for any kind of danger. At first all he could hear was the sound of childishly demonic muffled laughter. That sound made his stomach squirm uncomfortably. Then finally he heard the voice he had feared he would never again hear.

_"Alright! I'll do it!"_


	22. Chapter 22

**Davis POV **

"Are you sure? I could let just you and your little digimon go and you could skip my little challenge if you wanted rather than risk all three of their lives" Darkness offered teasingly

"No way! I'm not leaving without all of them!"

The digimon emperor had tried that trick on him before. At the time he'd believed that he could only choose one of his friends to live and had been willing to sacrifice himself so he wouldn't have to make the choice. This time he was playing for the lives of three people he cared about. He was quite alone so he was going to have to try and work tactically.

"Fine whose life are you going to try to save first?"

Tactics. He had to remember to stay calm and think tactically. At the moment he was completely on his own and he might need someone to help him later in _the game. _Ken was currently incapacitated and leafmon wasn't much good in his rooky form. Therefore, he would choose...

"veemon" be answered determinedly

"Fine let us see if you can save your precious digirat. Get ready to lose"

Digirat? That was rich coming from a dude in a halloween costume. He could do this. He could find a way to save all of them and beat Darkness. He was willing to bet that Darkness wasn't planning on playing fairly but that didn't matter because if Davis had to use every cheat in the book he would. There was no way he was going to let this guy win.

"No but I'm ready for you to lose" he retaliated

"You're either incredibly stubborn or incredibly stupid!" Darkness sneered

"Why can't it be both? Now if we're through chitchatting I'd like to get to the part where I take you down" Davis lashed out

"As you wish, my deluded friend"

Davis felt himself passing through sky and space. It was like he was in mid freefall as his body arced gracefully into an abyss of black. As the abyss swallowed him up whole he began to wonder if the entire thing had been trick. If all he'd really done was left his friends to the mercy of a madman. However, as soon as he landed that thought escaped his mind.

"Where am I?"


	23. Chapter 23

**Tai POV**

_"Where am I?"_

That was the last of Davis' voice they had heard in hours. Tai banged his head on the invisible door of the cave. Most of the conversation he'd heard had been yelling on Davis' part about refusing to lose. However, he had managed to distinguish something about risking lives and a challenge.

"I hope wherever Davis is he knows what he's doing"

Ugh! Davis never knew what he was doing. The majority of the time he came up with some half-baked plan that he hadn't thought through and made the rest of it up as he went along. It often worked but Davis left so much up to chance and luck that there was always the possibility that things could turn disastrously wrong.

"He'll be fine" Sora slumped down beside him

"Wha...What?" Tai turned to Sora and away from his thoughts

"We all know you're still worried about Davis" she smiled caringly at him

"I don't trust my judgement anymore. I did something terrible" he clenched his fists tightly

"Tai, whatever you've done it can't be that bad"

He had to tell someone what he had done. He was turning into a loose cannon and the digidestined deserved better than that. It was bad enough that two of the new digidestined had gone missing the others didn't need one of the old digidestined to lose his head or to start making cold and calculated decisions.

"In the dream...The dream where I was told that Davis and Ken were trapped in a portal on the beach...They were a bit more specific than that..." he gulped

"Tai, what did they say?" she enquired nervously

"They said it led to the world of darkness. They told me it was Kari's dark ocean"

He'd thought that admitting it aloud would make him feel better but it didn't. Under Sora's accusatory glare he just felt worse. He knew he should have told Matt that he planned not to tell Kari they were headed for the dark ocean. Matt was his safety net and he wouldn't have let Tai make such a radical decision.

"But you know how she feels about this place" Sora stated horrified

"I thought she might be useful because she's been here before. See, my feelings are clouding my judgement!" he said frustratedly

"Good" Sora told him firmly

"Good?" he repeated questioningly

"It shows you care"

He did care. The way Davis had looked up to him had started as just polishing his ego but the guy was genuinely fun to hang around with. Davis was the younger brother he'd never had. They'd clicked right from the start based on their love of soccer. He'd even trusted Davis enough to tell him about the digital world.

Davis had taken his trust very seriously and never revealed to anyone Tai had told him about the digital world. Well, at least until he'd sent that email telling Kari and TK that he needed help. Who would have thought after all that time of trying to take down the digimon emperor, Davis had gone straight to his rescue?


	24. Chapter 24

**Davis POV**

He had landed in a rather undignified position on very hard ground. He picked himself up and looked around. He was standing outside some sort of crumbling cavern. There was an entrance in the shape of a large arch. With a strange sense of deja vu he entered.

As he stepped inside he noticed a hole in the top of the cavern. The sunlight flooded through and hugged him as he basked in its glow. He lazily followed the sunlight with his eyes and noticed it beaming down on a shaft in the ground. In the shaft was a fiery digiegg with a spike through it.

Well at least he knew where he was.

_"It looks like a deflated beach ball. No wonder it's got a spike through it!" TY walked up to the fiery designed digiegg _

_"Yeah, plus it's heavier than my mum's meatloaf"_

_Davis could tell that even if Tai wouldn't willingly admit it he was slightly put out that he hadn't been able to lift the egg. Not that Davis blamed him in slightest, After all, Tai was the one who bore the crest of courage and he was the leader of the digidestined. Logically it should have been Tai's._

_Davis took a slight pleasure that neither TC nor Kari could budge the egg. He would never hear the end of it if TM managed to lift the egg instead of him and there was no way Kari would ever take him seriously if she appeared stronger than him._

_"Guys, I pump iron all the time let me do it!"_

_He bounded forward, eager to show his strength. Davis had ignored the roll of their eyes and braced himself ready to exercise all his strength. His gloved hands placed themselves securely around the digiegg, carefully avoiding the spike. _

_He loved hearing them all gasp in suprise as he lifted the egg with such ease. He was delighted that he had finally managed to do something that TQ couldn't. Especially something that impressed Kari. Even if he was caught off guard by the lightness of the digiegg and had been thrown off balance._

_"What did I tell you? Light as a feather! You guys need to work out a little more!" Davis had chuckled arrogantly_

_The arrogance quickly faded as one by one the digidestined began to twig something was wrong. The hole in the ground was now spurting out sparks and flames mystically. They were so bright that they lit up the entire cavern._

_"Yahoo! Free at last! Free at last! You moved the digiegg. Hi my name's veemon but you can just call me veemon" the blue digimon extended his clawed hand_

_"Hi I'm Davis"_ _he replied stunned_

_"I've been waiting a very long time to meet you, Davis" veemon said gleefully_

_"Er I think you got the wrong guy" Davis' tone was laced with doubt_

_"Nope, you're the one alright because you're the only one who was able to move the digiegg of courage"_

This time Davis ran forward determinedly with no thoughts of the others reactions to his success. His mind was solely focused on finding veemon and then moving onto the next challenge so that they could get out of here.

He placed his hands around the digiegg, remembering to avoid the spike. This time he steadied himself for the lightness of the egg rather than the heaviness he had previously expected all that time ago. He picked it up and watched as the sparkling flames emerged from the hole. Waiting for the little blue dragon digimon to come out...

"Aaaaaaaah!"


	25. Chapter 25

**Tai POV**

"You know I can still remember the first time I saw him in the digital world" he grinned bitterly as he budged closer to Sora

_"Hi guys. I'm glad you all made it"_

_He ran up to Kari and TK reflecting on just how much they had grown up. Back when they had last been to the digital world TK and Kari had only been kids. They still were in a way but they were definitely growing up._

_"Tai! I told those guys you'd be alright!" Davis stepped forward from behind them_

_"Er...Davis? What are you doing here?" _

_His jaw had literally dropped and his eyes had turned to saucers. Davis Motomiya stood in front of him with his cheery confident smirk that lit up the digiworld. He couldn't believe that somehow Davis had entered the digiworld. The guy didn't even have a digivice...or did he?_

"Bet you were surprised, seeing your soccer buddy in the digiworld" Sora giggled

"I guess you could say that. I mean...I wasn't so much surprised that someone would choose Davis as a digidestined but more that a new digidestined was needed. Especially when he lifted the digiegg of courage" Tai mused looking at Sora

She was so beautiful. From the first day he had laid eyes on her Tai had loved her. He couldn't help feeling so wounded every time he remembered that Sora had chosen Matt over him. Everyone had considered him and Sora to be the couple of the century. They'd clicked so quickly that Tai had been convinced that somehow he and Sora would end up together. He'd never considered that she didn't feel the same way for him.

He wondered what would have happened if he had gotten the courage to ask Sora out before she fell for Matt. Would she have chosen him or would she do the same as Kari did to Davis, giving the pitying look as she rejected him. It was enough to tempt him to fantasize ways about breaking up Sora and Matt. However, the fantasies would fade almost as quickly as they came. Matt was his best friend and he loved Sora too much to hurt her. Just like Davis he would wait for his turn. Maybe he could even gather the same courage Davis had in his constant pursuit of Kari.

"Sora, do you think I'm courageous?" Tai asked uncertainly

"Tai, how can you even ask that? You're like the bravest person I know" she gasped

"Not recently. All I've done is worry about Davis and Ken. Maybe that's why he could lift the digiegg of courage and I couldn't. Maybe he's just braver than me"

Sora raised an outraged hand and struck him on the side of the face. It stung a lot. For a girl Sora was definitely strong. However, that slap was greatly appreciated and served it's purpose. It startled him out of his self-hatred and his inability to trust himself.

"Get a grip, Tai! Can't you see how much we need you right now? Ok so the torch was passed on to Davis and he's a damn good leader! That doesn't make you any more or less courageous than when you were the leader of the digidestined. We're all scared but the only way we can all get through this is if you lead us!"

Sora was right. He had to stop sinking into self pity. He had made those hard decisions before and he would continue to do them. The digidestined needed someone they knew who could take control and get them through this mess. Tai had to be that person again.

"You're right! We'll find a way to help Davis and Ken no matter what it takes!"


	26. Chapter 26

**Davis POV**

Hundreds of veemon erupted from the digiegg. For mythical digimon there certainly were a lot of them running around him with identical excitable expressions. Their bright eyes twinkled as if there was no greater joy than seeing Davis standing before them.

"Which one of you is the real veemon?"

Unsurprisingly he got no answer. Instead the veemon continued prancing happily around him chanting the first words veemon had ever said to him. Which was becoming increasingly irritating. He tried desperately to search for some sort of feature that might distinguish veemon from all the other digimon. There was nothing.

"Ok! All of you hold still and shut up! I'm trying to think!"

To his relief all veemon pointedly shut their mouths and stood still as statues. This allowed him to actually formulate a thought. Unfortunately none of his thoughts were particularly useful in separating one veemon from another. They had all just merged in together.

"Digiarmour Energise!"

Apparently his digivice didn't work in this alternate reality either. That was definitely a disappointment. He'd been sure that the real veemon would digivolve and reveal himself. Unfortunately it appeared that Darkness had already thought Davis might try that trick. After all, only his digimon would be able to digivolve because the rest were just copies of veemon. That was when the thought occurred to Davis.

"Ok, here's the deal! I'm going to give you all a number and then I'm going to ask you three questions. If you think false then go to the left side of the room and if you think true then go to the right. Ok, everyone clear? "

He established watching the veemon's positive expression. They nodded their heads and displayed a solemn expression as he went around and gave each of them a number. He then picked up a rock and began drawing a table. He privately wished one of the others were here (with the exception of Tai and Matt) they were all far better at drawing tables than he was.

"Ok question 1: I have a sister called June"

He could recall a short part of Ken tutoring him in science and mentioning it was always good to have a control question. As none of them were there telling him how he needed to handle the situation he decided to try to dredge up all the advice they had given in the past. This was difficult as Davis had very selective hearing and most of the time people were dumping so much information on him that his brain hurt and sieved out any relevant information.

It turned out using the control question was a good idea. It proved that the veemon had at least been programmed with basic information about him. He watched amazed as they all ran to the right looking very pleased with themselves. Clearly he was going to have to kick it up a notch.

"Fine question 2: I tried to get Kari and the others to play strip poker at Ken's Easter party"

Evidently the questions were still too easy as all the veemon ran to the left. Clearly, they weren't fooled by him simply changing the holiday. He needed to think of something that only veemon would know. It looked as if all the veemon had his personal past directly programmed into them. It looked like he would have to think of a question that didn't directly involve him.

"Alright. Final question: Which is your favourite ice cream? Go left for ooey gooey chocolate fudge or right for swirly whirly caramel crunch"

Bingo! They couldn't work it out. They just had access to Davis' and veemon's memories. Everything else was just a blank slate to them. They weren't capable of knowing veemon's opinion. The real veemon would jump up and yell the answer while the fake one's would remain confused.

"I KNOW WHO THE REAL VEEMON IS!"


	27. Chapter 27

**Tai POV**

"How much longer do you think they'll be? We haven't heard from them in ages!" he sighed

"I'm sure he's fine"

Tai refused to look up at Sora's face. He didn't want to gaze into Sora's honest eyes and see that they were lying to him. As long as he didn't look at Sora then he could take her word as gospel. He was afraid of seeing the lie.

"It must have something to do with the challenge that Davis mentioned"

Much to Tai's disappointment it looked as if Matt had decided to join them. He sat in between Sora and Tai, before putting a possessive arm around his girlfriend. He had a feeling that Matt's presence was more due to the amount of time Sora was spending with him rather than Matt's desire to comfort.

No. He shouldn't think like that. So what if Matt had the girl Tai had loved from first glance? That shouldn't matter! He refused to let this toxic love triangle get in the way of their friendship. Matt was the one person he could count on to be with him through thick and thin. Ok, things had been a bit rocky at the very beginning as Matt hadn't felt comfortable with Tai as leader. Those days were gone now. Regardless of who was the leader or who got the girl: Matt Ishida would always be there for him.

"I just wish there was something more we could do to help" he sighed

"We just have to trust him"

The despondent teen looked up gratefully. For all Matt's stormy traits he made Tai feel calm. If anyone could pull him through to the other side it was Matt. Tai knew that if anyone else had told him just "to trust" Davis then he would have blown a fuse. However, as it was Matt, Tai believed him and resigned himself to that fact.

"There's something I gotta do"


	28. Chapter 28

**Davis POV**

"So you think you know which is your veemon?" Darkness smirked

"Yep!"

Davis didn't let his surprise or disappointment show that he had been brought back to the dark ocean. It seemed even more depressing having seen how beautiful the sunlight was back there. Now he was stuck back in a black and white movie (without the white!).

"So which is it?" Darkness pressed

"None of them" he answered gleefully

"None of them?" Darkness repeated

"None of them. It was a trick. I'd know my veemon anywhere"

Had Darkness been interested he would have happily told him that veemon could never make up his mind. He would therefore "compromise" on having two scoops each of ooey gooey chocolate fudge and swirly whirly caramel crunch. For a little guy veemon somehow managed to eat through Davis' wallet.

"I must admit I didn't expect you to try to beat me at my own game"

Darkness didn't sound angry or impressed this time. Instead it seemed interested. As if Davis was a particularly interesting puzzle that it had yet to figure out. Sneaking around and pulling tricks was one of the few things that Davis had a natural talent. No, Darkness was going to have to...Damn! He wasn't going to think the end of that sentence. Not while he had a suspicion that Darkness could read his mind.

"Whatever! Just bring on the next test!" he growled

"Not so fast little digidestined. You haven't told me whose life you wish to save next. How am I to devise the perfect test if you don't tell who you value most next" he asked amused

"I'm not doing this based on value. I care about them all equally"

So what if that sounded sappy? He didn't prefer one over the other. They all meant everything to him. Every single one of them would do anything to protect him. He refused to let them down. It didn't matter how cold or calculating he had to be all that mattered was that they all got out of here ok. They were putting their faith in him to make the right decision and out of all the battles and torments he had ever faced this was definitely the worst.

So he had to think who would be the next most useful to him. If they were going to get out of here he was going to have to choose based on strength, power, intelligence and the ability to protect him. Ken was by far the smartest but he was also unconscious. This meant he had to choose who could help protect him the best.

"Leafmon"

He had a strong feeling that Darkness had been following his thought process intently. He seemed too unfazed by his decision to choose leafmon over Ken. Despite, the fact Ken had been the one Davis had come to help. No, at this stage leafmon would be the best help he could get while Ken was unconscious. Plus it was in a digimon's nature to do anything to protect it's partner.

"Very well"


	29. Chapter 29

**Tai POV**

"You knew and you didn't tell me?"

Kari was crying. She wasn't normally a cryer, not even when she was little but Tai had totally betrayed her trust. Before now she'd always trusted him to give her a boost when she fell and a firm grip to support. This time he hadn't even been able to do that.

"What was I supposed to say? Oh by the way Kari we're all headed to the place that nearly took you from the real world permanently but I need you to go because you know the place better than the rest of us" he drenched each word in sarcasm

"Yes. Tai I would have come with you to help Davis no matter what. He's one of the most important people in my life. I thought you knew that"

He had known that. He'd just forgotten that was all. Kari had always been there for him and all the other digidestined. Even when she was in the place that still haunted her nightmares. In a world of darkness the light of Kari Kamiya was not looked on kindly.

"I shouldn't have tricked you into coming here. Not when I know you still have nightmares" he sighed

"What?"

Ooops slip of the tongue! He knew Kari had been keeping it a secret for a reason. She was ashamed that the darkness affected her so much more than the others. It made her feel weak. Tai knew that the real reason the darkness focused on Kari was because it feared the light and saw it's purpose to extinguish it.

"Sorry. I know you didn't want me or any of the others to know" Tai said apologetically

"I kind of figured you knew. It's weird but in my dreams I could hear you calling me back"

He decided not to mention that may not have just been in her dreams. When she was having those nightmares he would hold her hand whisper soothing words to her. Even in her dreams he wouldn't let the darkness take her. Now because of stupid Davis Motomiya he had taken her there himself.

"I'm really sorry Kari. Can you forgive me?" He asked sheepishly

"You're my brother. Of course I can"

She felt so small and young to him as he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her shivering in his arms (was it from the cold or from the darkness?). All he could do was pull her in closer to share his waning warmth. Whispering to his little sister. His little light in the darkness.


	30. Chapter 30

**Davis POV**

Unfortunately this time he wasn't in the alternate reality of gorgeous sunlight and hundreds of veemon. Even more unfortunately veemon wasn't beside him. He shouldn't have been as surprised as he was. He was talking about the same person who was holding two digimon captive and (he still suspected) had put Ken in some sort of coma. However, at least (wherever he was) he could see in colour rather than the shades of darkness.

He was standing outside walls of hedges with only one gap. There were no prizes for guessing what this challenge was. Well except the lives of Ken and the two faithful digimon. Every step he made would determine their lives. He didn't even have the certainty of veemon's survival. All of a sudden this didn't seem such a good idea. However, he hadn't been given the crest of courage for nothing. He had made his bed and intended to fight his way out.

He stepped through the gap and the entrance closed up behind him. A heavy mist began to set in. The hedges seemed even taller as he stood inside on a worn away path. Slowly Davis started traversing through the maze. Was it his imagination or were the dense hedges closing in on him?

He started running faster until he reached a fork in the path. He had known this would happen sooner or later but he had hoped it would be later. Normally he would have found it fun rushing through a maze until he found the exit. However, normally he wasn't running around a maze in order to save someone's life.

He could hear voices all around him. Not ones like the whispering voices which tried to help him. These voices sounded like harpies deliberately trying to confuse him.

_"Take the left! The right one will kill you"_

_"Don't be stupid! The left one will kill you! Take the right!"_

_"Are you really gonna believe that?"_

"Cut it out, already! Geesh you guys are worse than Yolei harping on about her Ken fantasies!" He snapped

He brought out his digivice and prayed that somehow it would work. Unfortunately, it looked like even the fates couldn't shine in this world. The light from his digivice just couldn't give even the feeblest glow. He was stuck with trying to work out which stupid turn to take.


	31. Chapter 31

**Tai POV**

_"Tai Kamiya? Tai Kamiya?"_

_He stood up as if he'd been electrocuted. He remembered the whispering voices well. They were the one's who had led him to Davis. Well sort of...he still hadn't actually managed to contact Davis... Hey! It was on his immediate to do list!_

_"That's why we are here old leader" their tone was hushed and hurried_

_"Is it Ken and Davis? Are they hurt?" _

_The words tumbled out of his mouth too fast for them to be coherent. However, although he couldn't prove it, he was certain the whispering voices understood him. He thought (possibly) privately that they could hear his thoughts and feel his concern for the missing digidestined._

_"Davis Motomiya caught the attention of the Lord of Darkness. For some reason the new leader's fears failed to be brought to life. You must understand Tai Kamiya, it is the greatest attack and never fails. This is why Lord od Darkness challenged the new leader to a game. Lord of Darkness rarely does this because few agree to go along with it. The consequences for failing are dire. The last digidestined and the two digimon known as veemon and leafmon have their lives left in the hands of every single one of the new leader's decisions. If Davis Motomiya fails then they all die and the digital world is at ruin"_

_Oh God, Davis! Well that explained the challenge that they had all heard him yelling about. Plus they now had a name of the person (?) that Davis had been so angry with. Anyway he was grateful for an update of Davis' situation._

_"Davis Motomiya passed the first test. Right now he is stuck at a fork in the dark maze where the Lord of Darkness' minions are messing with his mind to make him take the wrong fork. One way leads to certain death and the other leads to the digimon holding leafmon prisoner." they urged desperately_

_"What am I supposed to do?" Tai asked alarmed_

_"This world makes us weak so we can't fix your digivices but there is one thing we can do..."_


	32. Chapter 32

**Davis POV**

"eeny meeny miny mo..."

God this was ridiculous! There had to be a better way than this to decide which path to take. The nonsense voices were starting to get on his nerves. Unlike the voices in his dream which had been useful, these voices were being deliberately useless. So far all they'd done was tell him one way would kill him and the other would save him...

Huh? Email?

_**Davis?**_

_**Are you ok? Matt, Izzy, Sora and the rest of the new digidestined are here too. We're right behind you Davis so let us know if you need us. BTW we got a tip off that you are at a fork in somewhere called the dark maze? Izzy checked his laptop and reckons you need to keep to the left as much as possible. Please trust us on this! We all believe in you! And I'm really proud of how you're handling yourself right now.**_

_**Tai**_

_**P.S. If you ever do anything like this again I will strangle you with your own goggles **_

Tai was proud of him? Tai his idol, mentor and friend was proud of him. Except for the last part it read a bit like a postcard. He laughed at the idea. Unfortunately there was now the question of whether the email really had come from Tai or if this was another trick. He wouldn't put it past Darkness.

Plus, he wasn't exactly overjoyed to hear the others had followed him. He currently had three lives to save and he was doubtful he could save another nine.

But what about the whispering voices? They had claimed to be guardians of the digital world. Tai might have chosen not to mention he was hearing voices but Davis couldn't help wondering if the whispering voices were helping Tai and the others to.

"Oh, what the hell" he groaned

He ran left.


	33. Chapter 33

**Tai POV**

"Did he reply?" Tai asked anxiously

"Yeah"

_**Hey!**_

_**I got your email guys! I didn't die so I guess you were right about keeping to the left so thanks for the heads up! And no worries I won't let you down! Crazy question but was your "tip off" anything to do with whispering voices?**_

_**Davis**_

_**P.S. Tai if you want the goggles you'll have to strangle me to get them :)**_

"So Davis knows about the whispering voices to?" Cody frowned

"He even called them the same thing you did!" Matt remarked thoughtfully

"Maybe you two were seperated at birth" Gabumon pitched in

"It would certainly explain a lot" Sora shared a grin with Yolei

"Yeah and then Kari wouldn't have to feel guilty about rejecting him"

He cast a glance at his miserable sister. It wasn't really fair of him to tease her about her feelings towards Davis when she was feeling so low. It wasn't her fault that he refused to take no for an answer. He knew just by mentioning it he was pulling her deeper into the roots of the dark ocean.

"I'm sorry, Kari" he apologised

"If I could do it over I'd take back everything I said! I was wrong! I know ok! I didn't mean anything like what I said!"

He made to go over to her but Yolei was already sitting beside her and putting her arm around her. It made him feel incredibly uneasy just how reliant Kari was becoming on Yolei. It almost made him feel jealous and as if his baby sister didn't need him anymore. He wondered if this was what Matt had felt all those years ago when he'd tried to help look after TK to make things easier on Matt.

Kari and Yolei had become inseperable since they became DNA digivolution partners actually all the kids had. TK was chatting understandingly to Cody, Yolei was comforting Kari and Davis was risking his life for Ken. He vaguely thought back to his DNA digivolution experience.

"Do you remember when we had omnimon? Man, that was one cool digimon" Matt smirked as usual reading Tai's thoughts

"You don't wish gabumon had digivolved with biyomon?" he asked surprised

"Nah! Biyomon's cool and all but she's not gabumon's best friend"

Matt wasn't going to say it out loud because Matt never did. However, Tai understood completely. For the first time since they'd arrived there he didn't feel like he was in a dimension of grief. Matt was always ready to step up when he needed support.

"Yeah agumon and gabumon make one cool digimon"


	34. Chapter 34

**Davis POV**

He was doing a good job of keeping to the left. Although, he was starting to become convinced that he wasn't being paranoid and the walls of the maze were actually closing in on him. He decided to make a break for it. He didn't fancy being swallowed by the undergrowth when so many people were counting on him.

He came to a halt.

Davis had seen a lot of strange creatures and digimon during his time in the digiworld. However, the figure he was gazing on was by far the most beautiful and the most bizarre. It had a golden lioness' body with three shining tales and stone topaz feathered wings coming from the shoulder blades. Instead of the face of a lion it had a woman's face with matching topaz eyes and golden curls with luscious red lips.

"Who are you?" he gasped (probably sounding ruder than he intended)

"I am sphynxmon. I am an ultimate level digimon. My Call of The Gods attack is fatal to any enemy" She smiled disingenuously

"I'm not an enemy. I'm just here to find someone" Davis interrupted hurriedly

"And you are very close to your goal. The quickest way is past me!"

She wasn't acting in a threatening manner. All she was doing was prowling across the gap and just smiling sweetly at him. Her eyes never left him and despite her beauty he didn't doubt that one swipe of her paw would leave him unconscious. He didn't want to even think about just how powerful her special attack could be.

"So could you move...please" he added politely

"No...not unless you can answer my riddle. If you answer correctly on your first guess I let you pass but answer wrongly and I attack. However, remain silent and I shall let you walk away unscathed"

A riddle? His stomach slipped several notches as he heard those words. Damn, he wished the others were here! Izzy had a solution to every problem, Cody was ridiculously smart and Ken...Ken was why he was here.

"Fine! I'll hear your riddle!

He had to try; he didn't know how long it would take him to find a different route (if there was one) and he couldn't waste time. If worst came to worst he could use his D-terminal to get the others to help him.

If you break me I do not stop working

If you touch me I may be snared

If you lose me nothing will matter

"Erm...Hang on!"


	35. Chapter 35

**Tai POV**

"WHAT?" he exploded

"We can't get our d-terminals to work"

Tai knew that Kari had been nominated to deliver this horrific news because he was less likely to kill her. However, he was still struggling not to lunge at someone. He completely ignored the new digidestined cowering from his rage. The one silver lining they'd had since they'd arrived in this hell hole had been the ability to communicate with Davis. Now they'd lost that. He could feel the darkness reaching out for him.

"Chill, Tai! We'll find him! Last we heard was that Davis was doing fine" Matt spoke softly

"But we don't know if he still is. For all we know he could have failed and they could all be dead!" he bellowed

Matt didn't react to Tai's attempt to instigating a shouting match. Not that he was surprised. After all their fighting and power plays they had learnt how to handle each other's moods. Admittedly, he didn't lose his cool as much as Matt but when he did it was frightening.

"Do you really believe that? We are talking about the guy who managed to single handedly shut off the digimon emperor's base and get out without so much as a scratch! Not to mention destroy chimeramon!"

Matt had a valid point. Luck always seemed to turn in Davis' favour. The original plan never quite came together in the way it should. A lot of the time it seemed as if escape was impossible. However, Davis didn't give up until he had kicked some serious ass and the others never let him get over his head.

"Being alone in the digital world is dangerous enough just imagine how dangerous this world is?" Tai closed his eyes trying to block the fear

"You're right Tai this is dangerous and Davis should have listened to you but it's not your fault" Izzy looked up from his laptop

"I shouldn't have left him alone"

Finally he uttered the words that had been fuelling his guilt. He knew what Davis was like so he should have been quicker in getting the others and headed Davis off or agreed to go to the digital world right there and then. Now it could all be too late.

"Don't beat yourself up Tai. There's no way Davis can lose this challenge. He told us he's keeping to the left and he's fine." Matt murmured in his ear

"Besides it's our d-terminals that aren't working not his. I bet Davis is more worried about us right now" TK let an (almost) smile grace his lips.


	36. Chapter 36

**Davis POV **

"Got an answer yet?" Sphynxmon licked her lips

"I'm thinking!"

Actually Davis was waiting for the others to reply to his email. He was starting to worry that Darkness had found them. For all Tai's lectures on going into the digital world alone, he felt more at risk knowing the others were here. Especially, when they weren't replying to emails. Either way it looked as if he was on his own.

"Can you repeat the riddle?" he ignored her raised eyebrow

If you break me I do not stop working

If you touch me I will be snared

If you lose me nothing will matter

"Snared means trapped right?" he took her smile for a yes

Ok. All of these meaningless clues added up to one thing? His first thought was a digivice but when he thought about it if the digivice broke it probably wouldn't work and and he'd never been trapped by one. A digimon? That would make sense. Digimon were reborn when they were deleted and he'd been trapped by digimon on several occasions and if he lost his digimon nothing would ever matter. It added up but he had a strong suspicion that wasn't the answer.

"Damn, look I need to save my friends isn't there any other way you can move?" he begged

"Think you can take me on in a fight?"

Erm, on second thoughts he might just stick with the riddle. He had no way of protecting himself from her. It was killing him to feel this helpless. He had the crests of friendship and courage, surely that should mean he could save them. So why, was it so damn hard.

He knew he'd die if he lost any of them. There was no life for him without the digimon and Ken. The connection between the four of them was too strong. He'd die alone as a failure. He'd be a disgrace to his crests. He'd finally feel the full force of a broken heart that even Kari couldn't cause!

So what if his heart would still beat? You needed someone to have it and keep it safe. What better person for that than a friend? Without it having a reason to beat his life would have no meaning...nothing would ever matter!

"It's a heart. Even if someone breaks your heart it won't stop working and will continue to pump blood. When someone important comes into your life and touches you then they have your heart. Without your heart you can't live because nothing will ever matter..."

Sphynxmon got up and stood her ground watching Davis.


	37. Chapter 37

**Tai POV**

_"Tai Kamiya?"_

_He was finding the fact that the whispering voices kept putting him to sleep to talk to him rather annoying. The worst part was that he was actually already becoming accustomed to it. However, despite their disturbing presence he was looking forward to having a little chat with them._

_"You! What is your deal? I thought you were going to help us? You realise our D-terminals have stopped working!" He bellowed_

_"Our power is weaker in this world Tai Kamiya. We can try but Lord of Darkness extinguishes the power of light like the flame of a candle"_

_He knew this just like he knew the way he was treating everyone who tried to help was unfair. He wasn't usually this bad but every moment was getting harder. He was honestly trying not to show weakness but it was hard. His courage was fading._

_"Hush! Tai Kamiya! You were given the crest of courage and position of leader for a reason. Courage is not about charging recklessly into a situation with no thought to the consquences. It is fools who do that. Courage is about not giving up even when you are afraid. You care and will go to any lengths to protect people you care about, that is why you have the crest of courage and were given position as leader"_

_He let the words sink into his head. Worrying hadn't turned him weak, it had just shown that he cared. Courage wasn't just about fighting, that was a quality that evil harboured. If there was one thing Tai refused to be it was evil. He just had to keep holding on._

_"Is he ok?" Tai murmured_

_"He succeeded in reaching leafmon's captor, syphnxmon" they answered_

_"Oh. What does that mean?" he asked tentatively_

_"Syphnxmon is one of the legendary digimon with great power. She has no loyalty to any side. Travellers who meet her are obligated to answer her riddles" they explained_

_"And if they can't?" he gulped_

_"She attacks"_

_Davis wasn't very good with riddles. Tai didn't know if veemon was currently with him but even if he was, Tai strongly doubted the digimon would be much use. Syphnxmon sounded ominous and if she didn't support either side then she was a danger. Although, that didn't explain why she had agreed to hold leafmon prisoner._

_"She appears to get a satisfaction from puzzles and intellect" the voices answered his unasked question_

_"Just keep an eye on him and let me know if anything goes wrong"_


	38. Chapter 38

**Davis POV**

"Your guess is a heart?" she licked her lips

"Yes"

He tried to keep his tone firm but feared that his nerves were leaking through. He didn't want to have to fight this digimon. Especially not now. Not when there was so much at stake.

"Not good with riddles, huh?" her eyes glinted metallically

"No" Davis admitted

"But you are someone whose not afraid to try and who usually gets lucky?" she contemplated

"Is that part of the riddle?"

Her mysterious smile broadened making her golden skin glow and her red lips even more sensual. She stretched out her golden front legs. From standing position she was even larger and more intimidating. She prowled to the side. Then slowly sat down on her hind legs. Leaving room for him to pass.

"I did it?" he was amazed at his own brilliance

"Well done" she nodded

He barely had time to give himself a massive applause or reflect on his own genius. He knew he was close and as long as he kept to the left and didn't have to answer anymore riddles then he'd be fine. He dashed onwards determinedly.

He gasped as he saw a light up ahead of him.

"Leafmon?" He pulled up at a large rusty silver cage

"Davis!" Leafmon exclaimed ecstatically

He didn't really have a plan and he could see no key or keyhole. Therefore he decided to go with his gut instinct. He put his hands on the filthy cage uncertaintly. He held the cage with leafmon in it and wished.

A jet of blue light surrounded them both. It looped around them so they were standing in the midle of 3 entwined electric blue rings pulsating with a magnetic charge. They gleamed just like the light that erupted from his digivice would. His body was shaking as if there was an earthquake beneath them. Then nothing.


	39. Chapter 39

**Tai POV**

He was awake again. He noticed the others were watching him nervously. Clearly he had just collapsed. He mentally cursed the whispering voices for doing this to him. Was it really impossible to just have a normal conversation with him? Preferably when he was conscious.

"You ok?" Matt enquired hesitantly

"Yeah, I'm fine" he sighed

_"Davis Motomiya passed the second task. Remember what we said!"_

The voices reverberated around the outside of the cave startling and frightening the rest of the digidestined. It wasn't quite what he'd had in mind as a normal conversation but it would certainly do. At least the others could hear them so weren't doubting his sanity anymore. He mentally thanked the whispering voices for being considerate enough to leave him conscious.

"So if that Lord of Darkness sticks to his word then Davis only has one more to go, right?" Yolei established

"Yeah"

Wow, Davis solved a riddle? They were never going to hear the end of this one. Davis had grown up so much over the years. Somehow he felt sure that Davis could do this and bring everyone back safely. He didn't know how he'd ever doubted his soccer buddy. Davis defied everything that stood in his way from evil monsters to his own character flaws.

"What if he doesn't stick to his word?" Kari shivered

"He won't but Davis can beat this guy" Tai said confidently

"I don't know this guy sounds pretty scary" TK chewed his lip

"He probably is! But we can't give up on him!" he retorted firmly

"Welcome back Tai"

He spotted Matt grinning from behind. He knew that his best friend had been waiting for him to return to acting like the leader he was deep down. Sure, he was still terrified for Davis but he didn't doubt the guy's abilities. Davis was made of stronger stuff than people gave him credit for.


	40. Chapter 40

**Davis POV**

He was disappointed to once again return to the giant void of colourless despair. However, he was rearing with adrenaline. He felt unstoppable. Dude, he couldn't wait to see the expression on Darkness' face. Especially, now he...

"Where's leafmon?" he frowned

"You didn't expect me to release him just like that, did you? Not when you haven't yet done the third task"

He spun around to see Darkness sitting behind him twiddling it's thumbs distractedly. This irritated Davis, as he had hoped to see Darkness in full freak out mode. It still seemed interested in Davis' safe arrival and perhaps even more galvanised by his ability to get through the second task. It was proof that he wasn't just lucky but he could also be smart.

"Don't get ahead of yourself little digidestined. You are right I am surprised that you did so well in the first and second task. However, for me it was always about the third challenge. This challenge is one you can never hope to win!"

He refused to let those words affect him. This world fed on fear and unhappiness but it would not feed on HIS unhappiness nor fear. He had won the first two challenges so Darkness was probably trying to psyche him out. He would never give up.

"No way! I'm not leaving without Ken!" He bellowed

"Then you have signed you and all your little friend's death warrant" it grimaced

"Let's just get on with this stupid thing!"

He just wanted this to all be over. He wanted to bring Ken, veemon and leafmon back to safety. He would then tell his tale of the conquering hero as all the digidestined listened in awe of his bravery. They would spend the rest of the day just hanging out with their digimon. Then he would coax Ken into sleeping over at his house.

"Nice delusion! Shame it will never come true" Darkness cackled

"Put a sock in it! What's the next challenge?"

"Well you have already experienced the digital dimension and the dark dimension. Now it is time to experience your own dimension"


	41. Chapter 41

**Tai POV**

"Something's wrong!" TK's brow furrowed

"What now?" Tai groaned

"Our digivice's are working again" TK frowned

"But that's good news. Right?"

Surely if their digivices were working then that was good news. It should mean that their digimon could now digivolve and protect them. However, judging from everyone's reaction Tai was missing a vital piece of information.

"I think that begs the question of why are digivices started working. The guardians of the digital world claimed not to have the power to fix our digivices so how come they just started working?" Cody explained

"My guess is Davis must have tapped into something"

It's times like these he was glad he had Izzy as a friend. Although, it did make him feel dense that he had been the only one not to figure out that this could mean bad news. Then again that was part of being a team: using eachothers strengths to protect eachothers weaknesses.

"That doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that we find Ken and Davis!"

'Before it's too late' he added mentally. It wasn't like he didn't believe in Davis because he did. Tai had to admit that Davis was doing extremely well all things considered. However, there was still time for the tables to turn and they needed to be prepared for that.


	42. Chapter 42

**Davis POV**

This was weird. He was standing on a roof looking at a blood red sunset. He could see the sillohettes of dark buildings. The world was completely still from up here. There wasn't even a breath of wind or cry of a bird. Just this intense view.

In the corners of the shadows on the roof sat a boy about his age. He had inky blue hair and azure eyes. His slender body was hunched up as he scribbled on a bit of paper. His eyes never leaving the page.

"Hey, Ken! Ken! Ken!" he called as he ran over to the instantly familiar face.

Ken did not look up or react to his presence. It hurt slightly to know that the boy didn't know how close Davis was too him. Not that Davis was surprised. It would be too easy for him just to find Ken here and bring them back to safety (although, Davis still wasn't actually sure what he was supposed to be doing). At loss of a better plan he sat beside Ken and leaned over to see what his friend was writing.

_Dear Davis_

_I guess this is it. These are my last words and they belong to you. For all the kindness and friendship you have shown me. For always being you._

_I appreciate your forgiveness more than you will ever know. However, I can't forgive myself. The things I've done are pure evil._

_I am a monster who can't escape my own past. I murdered and tortured innocent creatures. The worst part is I actually enjoyed it. How can a human being enjoy torture and murder?_

_Everyone I get close to ends up being hurt in some way. My brother died after I wished he'd "just disappear". I hurt my parents by isolating myself from them because I believed I was better than them. I nearly killed wormmon and so many other digimon. _

_Things can't keep happening like that because it's not fair on everyone else. They shouldn't be tainted with my evil. I don't deserve to live. For what it's worth I'm sorry and I know you'll take care of wormmon for me. He deserves that much._

_ken_

"Woah! Ken listen to me! You don't need to do this! Things don't have to be this way! I'm here for you! Don't you dare leave me Ken Ichijouji! Don't you dare!"

For all his yelling Ken simply couldn't hear him. Davis watched as the boy picked up a knife and ran it down his femoral artery. In exactly six minutes Ken would bleed to death.

"I'm sorry Davis"


	43. Chapter 43

**Tai POV**

Tai had just started walking again when the pain started. It was much worse than anything he had felt in his entire life. He dropped to his knees and clutched his heart in agony and screamed in pain. It was getting too hard for Tai not to just give in. He wished he were dying, at least then he would be free from the agony at last.

Tai was in a frenzy of pain. His body felt as if it were seizing. His blood felt as if it were turning to ice in his veins. He couldn't do it anymore. God, it hurt so much. The pain was overwhelming. He couldn't even think clearly anymore. He heard himself scream as he wrapped a distrot Kari in his arms.

"NO! NO! NOT KARI!"

_"Hey I'm home" _

_He opened the door with a cheery grin on his face. It disappeared when he saw Kari lying alone pathetically on the couch she looked so weak and vulnerable but his parents were nowhere in sight. He couldn't leave her like this._

_Well actually he could. The selfish part of him needled that he could simply walk right out again and play soccer. It wasn't like his parents wouldn't take care of her once they got back from work. _

_However, that didn't sit well with Tai. Sure, Kari being ill was interfering with his plans to play soccer but...but why did it have to? He could take Kari outside and teach her to play football. Then they could both play together. It was a win-win situation._

"DON'T DO IT! DON'T YOU REALISE WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?"

_The playground was filled with happy bouncy kids. He picked a clear area for them to play, not wanting to risk any of the younger kids getting injured. He demonstrated his skills proudly as she watched wearily. Even though he was little he already had good control over the ball. _

_"Now watch me! Just like that!" _

_He kicked the ball excitably and made a clear easy shot for Kari to catch. She picked the ball up with trembling fingers and gazed at Tai's encouraging eyes. Slowly she put the ball back on the ground and kicked the ball feebly. _

_"No, that's not right" Tai said confused _

_He had just shown her exactly what to do. Oh well! He assumed that she just needed practice. Given time and lessons from him she'd improve. He picked up the soccer ball and made to stride over to where they had been playing._

_However, when he turned around his heart broke with dread. He didn't see the little girl immediately. Then his eyes scanned the ground and widened in fear. There his baby sister lay dead to the world._

_"Kari? KARI!" Tai exclaimed_

"KARI! NO! PLEASE DON'T GO!"

_Men in uniform stood discussing in low voices beside the ambulance. The siren colours of red and blue danced before his eyes. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. It felt like he was watching a film of someone else's life. Yet everyone's attention appeared to be focused on him._

_He stood and watched helplessly._

"I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

_"What could you have been thinking? You knew she was sick!" his mum slapped him hard across the cheek._

_She wasn't one who ususally resorted to violence. However, she was in a fit of hysterics. Her eyes were red and puffy with fearful tears. That scared him the most. His mum never cried._

_He watched his dad place an understanding hand on her shoulder. He was crying to as he comforted his wife. This was all his fault. He had made his own parents cry and hurt his baby sister._

"DON'T SAY IT! PLEASE! I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SO SELFISH! PLEASE DON'T SAY IT!"

_Kari lay sleepily in his father's arms as his mother smiled peacefully in relief. That meant she was going to be ok. I mean she still looked tired and he sure as hell wasn't going to take her outside again but she looked better. She was safe and it wasn't too late._

_"Tai?" _

_He stared up at her and his parents looked down in amazement. Clearly she hadn't spoken since they'd discharged her from the hospital but that wasn't why Tai was suprised. Why was she talking to the brother who had almost killed her?_

_"I'm sorry I can't kick the ball very good. You'll probably never want to play with me again"_

_At those words his eyes welled with tears. If he didn't already feel guilty then he certainly did now. The worst part was that he knew there was nothing he could do that would ever make up for what he'd done._

"I'M SORRY! I'M JUST SO SORRY!"


	44. Chapter 44

**Davis POV**

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE!"

He shrieked at the top of his lungs while trying to ignore the peaceful expression on Ken's face. He searched for something, anything, that might stop the bleeding. There was nothing. All he could do was yell and shriek for help. He hated being ignored but being invisible? Being forced to watch his best friend die...?.

"I hate these safety checks! Who in their right mind has an emergency exit on the roof?"

A voice? A real human's voice. He watched in desperation as he saw two old men steadily climbing the stairs up to the roof. He screamed at them to hurry up. They couldn't see him anymore than Ken could. However, they could see the pool of blood.

"Christ!"

The two men hurried over to Ken the first and elder of the two wrapped his coat around Ken's wrists. At closer inspection Davis noted that there were other superficial cuts decorating Ken's wrists. It was as though, Ken had been toying with the idea before finally making his decision.

"Call the ambulance, Sybil! Tell them he's still got a pulse!" the first man ordered while the younger man, Sybil obeyed hastily

A pulse? That meant Ken was still alive! That meant if these men hurried they could still save Ken. As long as the ambulance hurried and the men could stem Ken's blood flow for long enough they were in for a fighting chance. It wasn't over yet and he refused to let it be over. There was no way he was going to let Ken leave him.

Sybil dialled 999

"Hello we've found a boy about aged 12 on Tomachi Library building it looks like he tried to cut his wrists... there's a lot of blood but we've still got a pulse...yeah?...Ok we'll do that! Thanks!"

How come these people were being so calm? Did they not realise someone's life hung in the balance? Didn't they know that this was Ken Ichijouji – "the boy genius"? Didn't they know his parents had already lost one child and couldn't lose another? Didn't they know there was a whole other world depending on Ken? Didn't they know that Davis would die without Ken.


	45. Chapter 45

**Tai POV**

"What's going on?" he demanded at no one in particular

"The new leader is in pain. I've never felt so much pain in one human" the voices wailed

"My heart feels like it's crying" Kari wept

"What happened to him? Is he...?"

He knew the whispering voices would understand him. He just didn't want to say the words aloud because if he couldn't handle saying it then he was pretty sure the others couldn't handle hearing it. They would let him know. They were omniscient they were watching over Davis and looking out for him.

"Death would not bring this much pain. Something has happened to his spirit. Lord of Darkness has somehow created into his worst fear!" they cried out

"Nothing can crush Davis' spirit! He's the one who keeps everyone's spirits up" Tai growled

"Which would explain why your spirits are suffering and why you are forced to relive your worst fears!"

It was true. He felt like his crests were rotting away and his personality was joining the darkness. His very soul felt like fire and ice were corrupting it with evil. His strength was waning as if it were being leeched from him and leaving him helpless. The pain was unendurable.

"No! I'm done doubting Davis! If it kills me I won't give up on him anymore. I know he can do this. I believe in him" he hissed trying to ignore the agony piercing him.

"His spirit has been wounded greatly. The agony you are experiencing is barely a dose of what Davis Motomiya feels right now"

Barely a dose? Tai felt as if his heart was giving up on him. He hated to even imagine what could have hurt his little protégé so much. Nothing was supposed to hurt Davis. He was the one person that the darkness couldn't touch.

"It hurts so much. I've never felt so afraid to fight before" Sora sobbed

"I've never been in so much pain" Matt squeezed his eyes shut as he shivered

"Come on, guys we can't give up!"


	46. Chapter 46

**Davis POV**

He wasn't quite sure how he ended up here but he had just the same. He didn't remember riding in the ambulance with Ken or the paramedics, nor did he remember running after the ambulance. He didn't even remember entering the building. Not that it mattered. For whatever reason he was here.

"Ken? Ken-chan can you hear me?"

His words were lost on the boy who lay unconscious in the pristine white hospital bed. Ken's forehead glistened with sweat as his inky hair was plastered to his deathly pale skin. His eyes shuttered the brightness of the azure blue.

"I don't usually do this but I am so sorry. I should have realised you weren't coping and done something about it. Why didn't you just talk to me instead of doing this? For a genius you can sure be pretty dumb! Did you think I wouldn't have listened?

Look I know you messed up and I get that but that doesn't mean you deserve to die! You've made some bad decisions but you're not that person anymore. You've helped us all out big time since you stopped being the digimon emperor. There are people who need you.

Did you even think about how wormmon would feel if you died? Did you think how your parents would feel? Did you think how I'd feel?

You keep refusing to join the digidestined but you are one whether you like it or not. You're also my DNA digivolution partner whether you like it or not. I deserve better than some note telling me you're done with it all! I don't care if you want to be friends with me but you are my friend and I can't believe you'd do this me! Please don't leave me Ken-chan. I'll do anything."

For the first time in years he felt tears pouring down his cheeks. They stained the bed sheet as he rested his head on his best friend's abdomen. He felt himself slipping into despair. He didn't even notice the golden thread of light beaming from his digivice.


	47. Chapter 47

**Tai POV**__

"What's happening!" Yolei squealed

Normally someone would have made fun of the high pitched nerves coming from her voice. However, at this point everyone had gone into a state of shock. The torment that had eaten away at them was fading. However, the digivices and crests were glowing and rushing down a stream of gold thread.

"Izzy?" Tai gasped nervously

"It appears some sort of force triggered our digivices' into performing a new function"

The light from their digivice's and crests was overpowering. The older digidestined had been convinced that their crests had become near useless after their last battle. However, clearly something was making them work again. What kind of force could be that powerful?

"The digiegg of miracles" the whispering voices squeaked excitedly

"Davis' digiegg?" Tai exclaimed ecstatically

"Make a wish! Make a wish! Make a wish for Davis and Ken!"

The whispering voices repeated like eager young children as they watched the digidestined's awestruck faces. They didn't seem to appreciate the magnitude of the sudden power the digidestined felt coursing from them. It wasn't draining them in the way it had previously. On the contrary they had never felt stronger.

"I wish them the courage to care and face their fears"

Tai shot his digivice in the air. He watched as the crest of courage beamed out of it eager to support the wish. Slowly one by one the other digidestined raised their digivice and uttered their own wish.

"I wish them the power of friendship to give them strength"

"I wish them the power of love to heal old wounds"

"I wish them the knowledge to understand themselves"

"I wish them the ability to rely on their instincts"

"I wish them the sincerity of words to bring them back"

"I wish them to keep holding on to hope no matter what the odds"

"I wish them the light to always guide them wherever they need to go"

They watched as each made the wish that their crests bore entwine itself around the golden thread of light. As the light swallowed each of their crests the thread of gold turned into a fountain of rainbows. Just like they had seen when they had entered the dark ocean.

"We wish Davis the power to make others feel his strength of mind and strength of will"

The whispering voices chipped in with their own prayer. It was the final ingredient. The rainbow of light filtered through the darkness and illuminated the world with the light of a thousand stars. The world erupted with colour.

The portal emerged beneath their feet with it's river of sparkling colours. It seemed almost as if it had been waiting for this moment the entire time. It swallowed them up with one large gulp.


	48. Chapter 48

**Davis POV**

"Davis?"

He looked up hardly daring to believe that he truly had heard that voice. Streaming chocolate brown eyes met glassy azure. He choked back a fresh wave of tears. His heart seemed to have jumped to his throat as he bit back the shock.

"Ken-chan?" Davis whispered

"Since when do you call me Ken-chan?" Ken's brow furrowed

"Since you almost died? God, Ken what were you thinking?"

Davis turned away trying to hide the ebbing flow of tears. It took a lot to make him cry. He was either angry or overjoyed. Rarely was he sad and even more rarely did he feel the need to cry. However, this time he wasn't ashamed of his tears. As far as he was concerned having your best friend attempt a suicide was a good enough reason to cry.

"I left you a note" Ken fumbled in his pockets

"Don't bother! I already read it!" he told Ken sourly

"Then you have your answer" Ken replied robotically

"No I don't"

He turned around and faced the boy with his most menacing glare. His eyes were still aflame with tears. His lips pursed with white hot anger boiling over him. Ken cowered under the fiery intensity. However he didn't stop the fire in his glower.

"When you tried to kill yourself you went to the Dark Ocean!...Don't lie to me Ken I followed you there! I met the creepiest dude ever, I've just had to save your life and leafmon's life, as well as gambling my own and veemon's life. I'm on the third task and don't know what to do! You owe me better than a note!"

Until now he had almost forgotten about the third task. Now that Ken was awake he realised that he still didn't know what he was supposed to do here. Other than give him a heart attack he hadn't really seen any kinds of obstacles or things that might take the form of a challenge.

"Are they ok?" Ken jolted upright

"When I last saw them they were fine but that depends on if I win the last task or not"

He was relieved to finally see a trace of emotion in Ken's voice. It sounded like the Ken he knew and cherished deeply. The Ken whose primary concern was for everyone's safety. That was his Ken.

"You went to dark ocean?" Ken asked awkwardly

"Er yeah" he asked startled by the question

"Why?" Ken's tone maintained it's softness

"To bring you back, Einstein!" he rolled his eyes

"I know but why?" Ken persisted agitatedly

"I told you. You're one of us digidestined! We're in this together!"

He didn't know what else to say. How was he supposed to get across just how utterly lost he'd felt when he'd thought he'd lost Ken forever? It was indescribable.

"You're right" Ken mumbled

"Huh?" he chanced a glance at the boy lying limply on the bed

"I owe you better than a note" Ken sighed

"Talk to me then! What's going on?"


	49. Chapter 49

**Tai POV**

"We're back in the digiworld!" agumon gasped

"But what about Davis?" Tai looked around anxiously

Before anyone could answer the scampering of feet pattered the ground excitedly. They all looked around to see a bright blue bouncy digimon bounding towards them. Right at his side was a caterpillar digimon with legs that ran like wheels. Their hopeful faces beaming at the other digidestined.

"Where's Ken?"

"Yeah! And where's Davis?"

Wormmon wove in between the legs of the digidestined worriedly looking for his friend. Veemon on the other hand wasn't going to waste time looking for someone who wasn't even there. His tone and stance was accusatory.

"We thought they were with you?" Kari asked apprehensively

"Oh dear" Wormmon whimpered

"Tell us what happened!"

He instantly stepped into his role as leader and found the shoes still fit comfortably. He needed to know everything that had happened. If he had to search for the rest of his life he'd find the missing digidestineds. There was nothing that could stop that.

"I was waiting at home for Ken to come back. There was an email on the computer screen telling me Ken needed me. I clicked on the link and found myself beside Ken in this strange world. It was so cold and dark. I tried to help him but he was in so much pain. That's when I saw this man. He made everything I feared come to life"

Tai watched as Wormmon sobbed a rain of distressed tears as he related the story. Veemon, sensed his friend's pain and gently laid one clawed hand on the digital worm's back, causing Wormmon to glance up at him as the gentle clawed hand rested on Wormmon's head, giving the little digimon comfort.

Veemon's beady red eyes were evidently craving to be with Davis but he maintained his usual optimism. He took it upon himself to continue the rest of the story.

It told much the same as Tai and the others had expected it to go (with the added shock of Davis opening a digiport from his own home). Davis had taken veemon to the digiworld to rescue Ken and leafmon (who was now wormmon). The two had been briefly stopped by the same field of sleep the rest of the digidestined had encountered. Like Tai, Davis had been awoken by whispering voices who had told him where Ken was. Davis had agreed to gamble the lives of his friends to save them all...

"Darkness said he would let us all go if Davis passed all three tasks but if he failed even one of them then we'd all die" Veemon finished off

"Then where are Ken and Davis?"

Sora voiced what they were all thinking. It didn't make sense that Lord of Darkness would let veemon and wormmon go but not Davis and Ken. Although they doubted there was any real coincidence in the matter. No there had to be some sort of method in Lord of Darkness' madness.

"Check this out! I think Davis and Ken are in the real world!"

They all spun around in shock. Cody was staring at his digivice as if it were about to attack him. The new digidestined all pulled out their digivices. There was no blue or purple dot marking the missing digidestineds.

"Prodigious, that must be why our digivice's started working. I'll bet during the challenge most of the power was being absorbed by Davis' digivice. My guess would be that because the digiegg that the digital guardians gave Davis, harnessed the little power that our digivices could use and transferred it to his own digivice" Izzy's eyes lit up


	50. Chapter 50

**Davis POV**

"It used to just be every night I could see myself holding the whip and enjoying the sound of the digimon screaming in pain. Now it's every day. I don't even have to close my eyes to see myself back at the digital world back as the Kaiser. I can't trust myself not to turn into that person again"

It felt weird having Ken open up to him. Ken never opened up to anyone, not even wormmon. The boy always kept a stoic mask to hide his pain and guilt. Yet here he was admitting to Davis the darkest thoughts and fears that had plagued his mind.

Davis admittedly wasn't a natural when it came to comforting people. He usually lightened the mood with an irritating joke to get a response. However, any touch of humour at this point seemed grossly inappropriate. He would have to try and talk this out.

"I thought if I died I'd finally leave the dark ocean and my past behind me but it just dragged back. I'll never escape it. There's too much darkness in me" Ken said resentfully

"Come on, Ken! You've done some pretty rotten things but you're not an evil person" Davis shrugged

"I just don't know how to get over this" Ken hunched over

"I don't know either but we're in this together! I'm not letting you go without a fight"

He was surprised to find his hand reaching out and entwining it's fingers in Ken's and was even more surprised to find a fresh wave of tears streaming down his face. He brushed them away with fierce haste. Unfortunately Ken spotted the deft action. However, had the decency not to comment on it.


	51. Chapter 51

**Tai POV**

It didn't matter how many trips to the digiworld they had or how many adventures they went on, arriving back from the digital world was still ridiculously hard work. They landed in their usual disorganised cluster of bodies as they stumbled inelegantly into the school computer lab and collapsed in a bundle.

As the digidestined tried to extract themselves from the pile of bodies on the floor Sora and Tai tripped into each other. Tai found himself lying over her on the floor and gazing into the depths of her starry eyes.

Why wasn't he going out with her again? Oh yeah because he'd been too slow to make a move and now she'd moved on. His Sora was dating Matt. His best friend. God! How twisted was that?

"We should start looking for Davis and Ken. They're still not showing up on the digivices again" TK cast a glance at his brother

"What?"

He yelled pulling himself up. Before his brain caught up with him he extended his hand to the beautiful girl sitting on the floor. She accepted it with a flush of her cheeks as she met his chocolate eyes.

He didn't look at Matt. He was frightened of the expression he would see on his best friend's face. He needed to do what Sora had done and move on. She loved Matt now and Matt loved her. They were good for each other. Tai would just have to accept that that Sora didn't love him. Maybe she never had.

"Can we look for Davis and Ken now?" Veemon asked matching wormmon's beseeching gaze

"Of course"

Sora smiled down at the two digimon, before chancing a look at Tai. He hadn't realised he was still staring at her. As he looked away he caught Matt's narrowed eyes shooting daggers at him. They stared with a furious intensity that made Tai feel uncomfortable.

"But if they're not showing up on the digivices then they might not even be in the real world!" Kari stared at her digivice nervously.

"No. They're here" Veemon piped up

"He's right I can feel them" wormmon stiffened

"This way" Veemon indicated

They all followed the digimon but from the look he saw on Matt's face he guessed there was going to be a serious conversation later. Matt knew he wasn't over Sora and unfortunately Tai didn't have much to say that would put Matt's fears at rest.


	52. Chapter 52

**Davis POV **

"Look Ken there is nothing you can do or say to push me out of your life" he insisted

"I'm sorry, Davis! I'm sorry for all the times I've screwed up! I'm sorry that I keep screwing up!"

Ken sat straight up in bed, his shaking arms wrapped tight around his torso. Tears were running unstoppably down his pale cheeks, and his piercing azure eyes were wide with fear. His inky hair hung limply in strands around his head, a few plastered to his forehead with sweat. He raised a shaking, uneasy hand and ran it through his hair. He used the other hand to slowly wipe the tears away from his face.

"Please don't turn away from the people who care about you" Davis pleaded

"I appreciate your concern but you can't help me" Ken dismissed bitterly

"No. You're wrong about me not being able to save you and you don't appreciate the concern. You don't appreciate anything right now. But I don't care. Whatever you're going through I want to be there for you" Davis spoke determinedly

"I can't be saved!"

Ken sobbed fresh tears as he averted Davis' eyes. The azure-eyed teen was jumpy and submissive, but Davis surmised that was a result of his pain. He was filled with guilt and loss. However, Davis refused to give up on the boy before him.

"The worst thing you've ever done. The darkest thought you've ever had. I will stand by you through anything! Don't you see? I'll always be here."

He looked so dejected and broken that Davis began to wonder if he would ever get through to Ken. He seriously wanted to meet whoever had drilled this feeling of worthlessness inside Ken because it wasn't true. It just wasn't.

"And why would you do that?" Ken stared at him

"Because you're my best friend"


	53. Chapter 53

**Tai POV**

"Veemon? Wormmon? What's wrong?"

Everyone stopped as veemon and wormmon stood completely paralysed as a river of blue and purple light engulfed the two digimon. Some sort of connection appeared to have been forged between them. The digidestined watched in terrified fascination as the two digimon became a blinding white light sillhoette. With an incredible speed the light entwined the two digimon and produced...imperialdramon?

"They digivolved straight to their mega!" TK gasped

"But that doesn't make sense. Ken and Davis aren't even here!"

This was seriously weird. Tai had heard all about DNA digivolving from the others and was aware that it was a special brand of digivolving but this totally defied logic. They had somehow digivolved together without their human partners present. As if that wasn't wacky enough, they had skipped out their champion stage and digivolved from their rooky level.

"How did we digivolve?" Imperialdramon asked confused

"I don't know but let's get out of here before we attract any more attention!"

Once again, Tai had to agree with Izzy on this one. Already they were beginning to gather a very panicky and intrigued audience. He didn't fancy having to explain how Imperialdramon appeared or what he was doing here. No, the best plan of action was to leave quickly.

"Alright. Hang on!"

Imperialdramon quickly beamed them up. Having Imperialdramon beam them up was a strange sensation. It made him feel weightless and as if gravity didn't exist. Everything felt so light and free as they took their position. He didn't know how or why but for some reason he could tell that Imperialdramon could sense the presence of the two missing digidestined.

Tai flushed as Sora gripped his hand apprehensively. However, as Tai squeezed back she relinquished her grasp. He followed her gaze to see Matt glaring at the two of them.


	54. Chapter 54

**Davis POV**

"I'm lucky to have you as my DNA Digivolution partner" Ken chuckled

"Why? 'Cos of my smarts and good looks?" he smirked

"No and it's not for your modesty either! No, it's because you don't give up no matter how bad things get"

Ken had a radiant smile. Like Davis' it lit up the room like a daring ray of sunshine. However, unlike Davis' it was genuine and filled with purity. Secretly, Davis was already plotting ways of keeping that smile on Ken's face. The way the boy's eyes lit up like sapphires when the expression graced his lips was infectious.

"You're better than you're giving yourself credit for. I know if I needed help then it'd be you coming to my rescue!" Davis said confidently

He wasn't convinced that he was going to get an answer. He kind of expected Ken to look away with a ghostly white flush in his cheeks. His fingers would be playing shyly with the bed sheets that covered him. His sky gaze refusing to meet Davis' chocolate brown.

"I would. You're my best friend too" he admitted shyly

"Then don't leave me. I don't want you going anywhere! I couldn't bear it! So whatever you want to do to yourself...don't do that to me. Please!"

He fought back the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn't believe how close he'd come to losing his best friend. Not only that, but Ken had actually admitted he considered Davis to be his best friend. Even if he had to fight to the death there was no way he was ever going to come that close to losing Ken again.

In the glow of the tender moment the two best friends hadn't realised they'd created a gathering. Everyone in the room could feel the bond between the two best friends emanating all around the room. They could feel it banishing the darkness as the power of their crests combined created a translucent golden shield.

"Awwwwwww!"


	55. Chapter 55

**Tai POV**

"YOLEI!"

Tai rolled his eyes as the two previously missing digidestined turned around in shock as their eyes fell upon the lavender haired girl who was swooning at the tender moment they had intruded upon.

"I'm sorry but that was just so cute"

She turned to the digidestined behind her with a neon red blush across her face and twinkly eyes. However, Tai just wasn't in the mood to admonish her for her insensitivity. He was just too relieved to see both boys safe.

"Davis!"

"Ken!"

The two digimon had digivolved back to chibimon and minomon. This made them the perfect size to bounce up onto the bed and snuggle between their digidestined partners. Their faces shining brightly up at them.

"I don't understand. What was the last task? I didn't even do anything" Davis stroked chibimon affectionately

"I imagine it must have had something to do with the bond between you and Ken"

Everyone was confused by Izzy's analysis. They all knew that Ken and Davis were probably the closest out of all the DNA digivolution partners but how could that affect the third task? Tai couldn't help noticing that everyone else seemed equally confused.

"Think about it. Despite the fact that neither Davis nor Ken were there, veemon and wormmon digivolved straight to their mega form. Now if we think back to the first time they DNA digivolved Davis was trying to persuade Ken that they needed to be friends which created that bond between them. Therefore, something one of you said must have triggered that bond to activate!"

Davis' coming to rescue Ken and refusing to give up on him had caused their bond to activate. That was probably why the digiegg of miracles had worked. It had felt their friendship and wanted to help.

"Wormmon and veemon were able to DNA digivolve to their mega form?" Ken gasped

"Yes. It was quite impressive actually" Izzy mused

"That still doesn't explain what the last task was" Davis pointed out

That was more than a little contradictory. If Davis hadn't done anything then why had Lord of Darkness decided to let them all go? Did that mean that they weren't truly safe? Was Lord of Darkness lying in wait for them?

"My guess would be that your task was to find a way to stop the darkness coming after Ken again. When Ken accepted that you really thought of him as your best friend then the darkness couldn't touch him. Ken was too touched by the light of Davis' friendship for the darkness to have any use for him" Izzy grinned at them both

Well now that they were done with the minor details of how everyone had ended up ok. Tai had more pressing matters to attend to.

"What the hell?" Davis squealed

Tai grabbed him rather forcefully by the collar. He found that his hand had taken a life of it's own and struck the younger boy hard across the cheek. Was it entirely masochistic of him if he admitted that felt seriously good?

"YOU JUST RAN OFF! NO NOTE OR ANYTHING" he yelled

"Geez, Tai, you're starting to sound a lot like my mum. Besides it wasn't like you couldn't work out where I'd gone" Davis groaned as he rubbed his cheek

"NO BUT THAT WAS STUPIDEST, INSANEST...and most courageous thing I've ever seen anyone do"

He released his hand from the younger boy's collar and pulled him into a hug. It was one of the best feelings he'd ever had. Holding Davis and knowing he was safe, that everyone was safe...Wow! It felt good to have his surrogate brother gripping him back tightly.


	56. Chapter 56

**Davis POV**

A woman in a pristine nurse's uniform entered. Her golden locks were tied up in a severe bun revealing her milky skin and high cheek bones. She swept through the room with disdain and sickly sweet expression on her face.

"I'm sorry but I think Ken's had enough visitors for today. You can come back once his family arrive" she reprimanded

"Wait! I'm family!" he interrupted

"I wasn't aware..." she began

"He's my brother Sam"

It must have taken a lot for Ken to invoke the name of his beloved dead brother. Usually his best friend would clam up if someone even asked if Ken had any siblings. The only reason he even knew the name was because the boy had choked it out when he realised the digital world was real.

"Oh?"

The woman stared at Davis sceptically and it took him a while to realise why. He was still clutched in Tai's embrace. He reluctantly wriggled out of it, trying not to look to disappointed about it. He would never vocalise it but he appreciated Tai's worry immensely.

"Don't worry 'Sam'. Just let us know if there are any problems!"

He silently thanked Tai for understanding and assuming position as leader. Davis wasn't a hundred percent sure that he could handle resuming charge. He just wanted to chill with his best friend for a while. To let him know he wasn't alone.

"Thanks for staying, Davis. People really don't give you enough credit" Ken mumbled once everyone had left

Finally someone had noticed he wasn't some dumb jock. He was the leader of the digidestined and bearer of the digieggs of courage, friendship and miracles. Sure, he could be a tactless jerk but when it came to his friends he would go to any lengths to look out for them. Ken was no exception.

"Tell you what, how about when you get out of here we'll have a big digidestined party and you can sleepover. It'll be fun" his eyes sparkled

"I'd like that"


	57. Chapter 57

**Tai POV**

"Hey, Tai! Can I talk to you?" Matt rushed after him

"I'll catch up with you later, Kari"

Three guesses what this was about. Oh well! Tai knew that he couldn't avoid the topic forever. It looked like now he would have to face the music. Although, oddly enough Matt didn't look angry.

"So what's up?" he turned to stare at his best friend

"I broke up with Sora" Matt stated casually

"What? But you guys are good together!"

Of all the things he had been expecting this was definitely not one of them. High up on the list had been Matt punching the living daylights out of him but definitely not this. Why was he even talking to Tai?

"I like Sora. She's cute and fun to hang around with" Matt smiled genuinely

"So I don't get it? Why did you break up with her then?" he furrowed his brow

"Because my best friend loves her"

Tai had been afraid of that. Matt had realised that he wasn't over Sora. It wasn't like he hadn't tried because he had. However, every time he so much as looked at a girl, Sora's face would swim into his mind.

"I'm sorry Matt. Look I'll try harder. You don't need to break up with Sora because of me" he apologised hurriedly

"Yeah, I do!...She's in love with you too. She always was"

Was he dreaming? Sora loved him? He must have heard wrong. When he'd tried to ask her out at Matt's concert she had turned him down for Matt. If she loved him then why would she turn him down?

"But Sora chose you" he stammered

"Yeah because she figured you would have made a move by now if you were interested" Matt rolled his eyes

"Oh"

He couldn't think of anything more articulate to say. Matt did have a point. He hadn't ever been as clear in his emotions as a certain goggle-head he knew. No. Tai hadn't realised just how much he wanted Sora until she'd fallen for Matt.

"And it wouldn't bug me if you went after her and told her you love her like right now" Matt shrugged

"You broke up with Sora...for me?" he asked stunned

"Yeah! Now go tell her you love her before I change my mind"

His best friend shoved him forcefully in the direction of the Takenouchi house hold. He didn't know if Sora would be home yet but he would wait all night if he had too. He had been forced to watch the girl he loved in the arms of his best friend...His best friend who had broken up with her just so Tai could be with her.

"Thanks Matt"


	58. Chapter 58

**Davis POV**

"KEN! WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT'S HAPPENED TO MY SON? WHAT'S HAPPENED TO MY KEN-CHAN"

A woman with a kind face was weeping and wailing. Her brown chestnut hair looked as if her perfect hairstyle had been electricuted into a bird's nest. Her eyes were wild with tears as her husband dutifully held her close.

"AND WHO ARE YOU?"

Woah! Ken's dad sounded as if he were chanelling the Kaiser. Not that he could blame the man. Davis had struggled not to turn into the Kaiser once he had see what Darkness had done to his best friend.

"Erm. Ichijouji-San, I'm a good friend of your son's" he tripped over the words slightly

"You're the one posing as Sam! Who are you really?" Mr Ichijouji demanded

"My name's Davis and..." he began defensively but was immediately interupted

"Davis. As in Davis Motomiya?" the women's tone softened

"Erm. Yeah"

How the hell did they know who he was? Was it possible that Ken had actually mentioned him at home? Ken didn't really carry out long conversations with people. Mostly his friend was content to listen to the long ramblings and occasionally pitch in with a comment.

"Ken talks about you often" Mr Ichijouji confirmed

"Really?" he asked hopefully

"Yes...Did you know?"

He didn't need Mrs Ichijouji to make herself any clearer. Davis knew exactly what Ken's poor mother was asking. The worst part was that as he looked into her eyes he realised he didn't really have an answer. He'd known something was wrong but he hadn't realised how badly things were wrong.

"Sorry" he shook his head

"It just makes me feel like such a lousy mother. First we lost Sam and now..." she sobbed

"Don't think like that honey" Mr Ichijouji soothed

"He's right! Ken's always going on about how grateful he is to have you guys as parents"

He could be the most tactless person on the planet at times but even he had his moments. Somehow his gut would kick into overdrive and tell him what the other person needed to hear most. Unfortunately it didn't have any tips for wooing Kari.

"Excuse me Ichijouji-san, I have some forms I need you to sign"

The strict blonde nurse entered the room staring at the family suspiciously. Ken looked nothing like his parents. Actually Davis looked more like them than Ken did and that was saying something.

He waited until the Ichijouji's had exited the room before returning his gaze to the boy lying in bed. Ken was breathing heavily and his eyes were tightly shut and hidden behind inky strands.

"You can stop pretending to be asleep now!"


	59. Chapter 59

**Tai POV**

"Sora!"

"Tai?"

He'd successfully managed to get to the porch just as Sora was about to put the key in the lock. She didn't look as teary and heartbroken as he had imagined she would. I mean she looked sad but that was it really. Just sad.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Matt"

He wasn't sure that the reason he was gasping for air was the fact he had run all the way to Sora's house. He'd run there a zillion times before and never been out of breath. Plus, he was in good shape from all his soccer training.

No, Tai Kamiya wasn't that stupid or oblivious anymore. He knew that the reason for his poor oxygen intake was the same reason for his fluttery heart. It was all because of that beautiful girl standing shyly in front of him.

"He told you!" her eyes narrowed

"Well, yeah" he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly

"Listen Tai I'm fine! I don't need your pity"

She thought he was here because he was worried about her? Ok, maybe she had a point because it was the kind of thing he'd do. However, he wouldn't do it for just anyone and Sora wasn't just anyone. He never rescued her or talked to her because he pitied her. No it was for another reason entirely

"I'm not here because of that" Tai shuffled his feet uncomfortably

"Then why are you here?"

He answered by crashing their lips together as he pressed his body against Sora's and pushed her against the door. Years of want were overtaking him as he tasted the softness of her lips. Initially she appeared suprised but she got over it almost immediately. She kissed him back vigorously as she knotted her fingers in his bushy brown hair.


	60. Chapter 60

**Davis POV**

"How did you know?" Ken opened one eye

"You were breathing too heavily" he shrugged

"I should have known better than to try and trick the Great Davis Motomiya"

He couldn't tell if Ken was being sarcastic or not so he decided to take it as a compliment. Davis wasn't just some stupid idiot who could kick a soccer ball. He was actually quite intelligent...just not academically. However, he was well trained in the arts of deception (one of the few perks of having an older sister).

"You know you're gonna have to talk to them eventually" he sighed

"I know but you heard my mum. She thinks it's her fault" Ken groaned

"Yeah and she'll keep thinking it's her fault until you tell her otherwise" he pointed out

Unlike Ken's parent's Davis wasn't about to sink into a mixture of self pity and blame. He knew that he hadn't been responsible for Ken's actions. However he had to take the responsibility for the fact he hadn't realised that Ken wasn't handling things.

Some best friend he was! If those men hadn't found Ken then the boy before him would be dead. It had taken Davis nearly a week after his best friend had attempted suicide, to actually get off his backside and start listening to his gut instinct and go searching for Ken. He should've been quicker. Maybe then he'd have been able to pull his friend out of the depression before Ken had ended up in hospital.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused" Ken choked back tears "Just promise me you won't do this again" he soothed "I promise"

Don't ask him how but Davis knew Ken meant it. Ken honestly wouldn't do it again. Truth was reflected in those tragic azure eyes. He and Ken were connected in a way that went deeper than just being DNA digivolution partners. He just knew Ken.

"So about that digidestined party... "


	61. Chapter 61

**Tai POV**

"Hey! Davis!" he hailed him over

"What's up Tai?" Davis came towards him grinning "I would like to introduce you to my new girlfriend" he proudly

Sora stepped forward in a pale blue dress that complimented the delicate flush across her cheeks as she looked at Tai. They had matching giddy smiles as their eyes met. She bit her lip nervously looking at Davis.

"Finally!" Davis pulled them into an affectionate hug "What do you mean 'finally'?" he asked crossly "I'll leave you guys to chat"

She wandered over to where Kari and Yolei were chatting animatedly. The two girls waved her over and with a swish of blue she left the two boys. Tai was still watching her enslaved by her beauty and elegance.

"Dude, you and Sora? When did that happened?" Davis gasped "Erm. Some point after Matt broke up with her"

He tried not to look as guilty as he felt but he was talking to Davis Motomiya. Davis was too much like him to allow himself to be fooled by Tai's innocent act. Davis was just as manipulative as he was.

"How many minutes?" he raised his eyebrow "About ten"

Within about two minutes they were both laughing heartily at that statement. It always startled him how in sync they were. They shared the same mischievous glint in their eyes whenever they smiled or laughed. Plus, they shared a permanent hyperactive excitable tone in their voice that enhanced during a joke or winning a soccer game.

"We were all waiting for you guys to hook up! Finally decided to take a break from being leader" Davis chuckled "Nope. I'm resigning" he grinned "What? Why?" Davis' jaw dropped "It's time for a new leader now and if there's anyone I trust to take over it's you!" he ruffled Davis' hair

In truth he'd been thinking about quitting as leader ever since Davis had left. He'd finally been forced to acknowledge that Davis was ready and had been ever since he'd arrived at the digital world. He was always going to worry about Davis because he was programmed to. However, it was time for him to step aside.

"I don't know how to be a leader on my own" Davis stepped back in alarm "Yes you do! Just keep trusting your instincts and you'll do fine"

He looked over his shoulder casually and his smile widened. Davis had good instincts which never led him astray. Not that he was biased or anything but he had a feeling Davis' instincts would have no questions on how to approach his biggest challenge.

"Hey Davis"


	62. Chapter 62

**Davis POV**

He turned around startled to hear that voice striking up a conversation with him. There she stood looking as beautiful as ever, while her eyes were fixed upon him, sparkling like stars. A cute clip pinning back her smooth light brown hair as she smoothed out a pink sundress.

"Kari?" he gasped

He wasn't sure if he had imagined Tai telling them he was going to find Sora. However, regardless of whether he had imagined Tai speaking or not, he had dimly registered the older boy had left. Now it was just him and Kari.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not believing you about Ken" she blushed "It's cool"

He knew she hadn't meant to cut him off without even hearing him out. He couldn't exactly blame her. He had become a little restless about their inability to defeat arukenimon. Besides, he was borderline paranoid when it came to Ken. Although, considering the circumstances that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"No, it's not. I really admire you Davis. Going off on your own...That was really brave!" she moved closer

"You think?" His eyes perked up

"Uhuh"

There was no space between them now. She leant in nervously and brought her lips so daringly close to his. He closed the gap between them boldly. Her eyes fell closed as Davis leant in to meet her lips with a tender chaste kiss. Slowly he brought his arm around her neck to pull her in closer and pressed his lips harder against hers. She parted her lips slightly and Davis' decided to take that as an invitation as he slid his tongue into Kari's mouth.


	63. Chapter 63

**Tai POV**

"If he doesn't get his tongue out of Kari's mouth in the next minute I'll make sure he can never use it again"

He and Sora had been making out shamelessly by the punch bowl until Tai had spotted Davis snogging his little sister. It made his insides curl watching the two of them. In fact he was so uncomfortable he was distracted from the most seductively beautiful girl in the room.

"Oh stop it Tai!" she shook her head in exasperation

"What?" he asked utterly bewildered

"Everyone knows that you've been rooting for Kari to choose Davis over TK" Sora sighed

"What about Matt and TK?" he tensed

"Ok everyone not biased in the twisted love triangle"

He wanted to deny it and say he wouldn't have minded whether Kari chose Davis or TK but it would be a lie. He had known TK longer but he felt like he knew Davis better. Besides, after all his efforts in chasing Kari the guy deserved a chance. He deserved to finally have his feelings reciprocated. It was for this reason he allowed Davis to keep his tongue.

"Ok yeah. I'm glad she picked Davis but don't tell anyone, ok?" he grinned

"You're secret's safe with me" she whisper

"_You've been searching the world to find true love_

_Looking in all the wrong places_

_When all I've the time you've been blind to love_

_As plain as the nose on your face is..."_

He followed them with his eyes as Davis and Kari entered the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck slowly. Tai smirked as he noticed her blush when she caught her partner's gaze. Davis hands were placed chastely on her waist, while his chocolate eyes sparkled.

"_It's here! It's now!_

_Open your eyes it's the end_

_Right here! Right now!_

_Open your eyes to love"_

"Wanna dance?"


	64. Chapter 64

**Davis POV**

"_Open your mind to love_

_Open your heart to love..."_

He stepped apart from Kari feeling dizzy for a reason that had nothing to do with the dancing and everything to do with the girl before him. His heart felt like it had decided to run the marathon and his breath had been stolen away.

"Can I borrow Kari for a moment?"

He jerked out of his trance and saw a girl indicating to the corner. He wouldn't have recognised the girl before him if it hadn't been for her lavender hair. She had obviously favoured contacts over her usual catty style glasses. She now looked strikingly feminine. Even though (in Davis' opinion) she was still a dull comparison to Kari.

"Sure, Yolei" he smirked

He watched Yolei chatting animatedly to Kari. He was positive that his name had cropped up several times within that conversation. He watched them go off as he walked blissfully to the other side of the room.

"Finally managed to move away from Kari?"

A tall lanky boy with inky hair sauntered towards him. There was a contented smile pasted across his ivory face. His azure eyes were as soft as silk. They even had a slight twinkle shining boldly.

"Huh?" Davis mumbled

He was still replaying the memory of the kiss in his mind. He wasn't quite ready to leave cloud 9 and rejoin the rest of the planet. He was still processing that his fantasy had somehow become a reality. God! Kari Kamiya had kissed him.

"Oh. Sorry Ken" he shuffled his feet awkwardly

"Don't be! If you hadn't started flirting with Kari, Yolei would still be on my case" Ken laughed

"She's not still trying to get you to go out with her?" he asked in disbelief

"Unfortunately"

Honestly, Ken had just been released from hospital two days ago and already Yolei was back to hounding Ken about going on a date with her. Truthfully, if she gave Ken some space then Ken would probably start liking her back. However, she had yet to grasp this.

"So I shouldn't have said you'd double date her with me and Kari" he snickered

"Don't even joke about that"

Ken's frown turned into a grin when he saw Davis' signature smirk. It had an excitable affectionate glow that lit up the room with a mischievous glint. It had his best friend chuckling merrily. Within moments the two were chortling away together over nothing.

"Thanks...you know...for everything" Ken muttered

"You're my best friend. No matter what I will always be there for you"


	65. THE END: AN & THANKS

A/N: Clarifications & Thanks

At the request of the whispering voices I have agreed to clarify a few points:

First off Tai's character seems to be all over the place. In this fanfiction he appears to betray Kari's trust numerous times and he keeps doubting how rational his decisions are. In my fanfiction he doesn't mean to upset Kari nor is he trying to choose Davis over her. In this fanfiction it pays more attention to the brotherly style relationship between Davis and Tai because of this he's going out of his mind with worry. Therefore, his thoughts and decisions are very confused which is why he struggles acting like the leader.

Secondly, the digiegg of miracles is fuelled by Davis' need to save Ken. This is why the digiport opens in his bedroom and stops the sand and sun in the desert (etc).

Now for a little bit of back story (made up by me). The crest of kindness was hidden from the darkness (like it says in the series) but Ken couldn't access it because he was enslaved by the darkness. Therefore, the whispering voices gave it the ability to turn it into the digiegg of miracles (again seen in the series). After Davis agreed to help wormmon get Ken back to normal it triggered the digiegg of miracles to come into existence. Due to the fact that the digiegg of miracles is made up partially of the whispering voices they have a strong connection with it.

The field of sleep was created by Lord of Darkness. In this fanfiction Lord of Darkness describes himself as being "quite literally your worst nightmare". Lord of Darkness was born from the dark ocean and uses it's power to bring fears and nightmares to life. He is neither human nor digimon but just a product of the darkness. This is why in the digital world his power is limitted so he can only create a field of sleep but can't actually hurt or scare any of the digidestined enough to stop them looking for Ken.

The portal to the dark ocean leaks out all the colour and light. This is how the dark ocean manages to always remain cold and colourless.

In Davis' dream and before he enters the dark ocean he hears Ken saying he's "sorry". This isn't a figment of Davis' imagination. What Davis is actually hearing are Ken's last words before he tries to commit suicide. The reason he keeps hearing it is because of the connection between them.

Also Davis can enter the cave and (to an extent) use his digivice but the other digidestined can't. This is because the digiegg of miracles is fuelled by his emotions and connection with Ken which penetrates the barrier of the cave where Ken and wormmon are held captive. However, the small amount of power the digidestined's digivices should have is being (unknowingly) taken by Davis because the digiegg is using it's power to help Davis.

Despite all this even veemon can't digivolve in the dark ocean. This is because to digivolve the digimon need both light and the strength of their partners to digivolve. In the dark ocean there is no light so none of the digimon can digivolve.

Obviously in the first task Davis is confronted by fake veemons. For this reason none of them can digivolve and (although programmed with veemon's memories) they are incapable of knowing veemon's opinions (or any opinions) so can't answer his last question.

The reason Darkness challenges Davis to 3 tasks is because he wants to learn more about Davis. He is confused why his attack (which never fails) doesn't work on Davis. He doesn't percieve Davis as much of a threat but he wants to know why his attack didn't work. Also there is a childish element to Darkness' that craves entertainment which he recognises Davis can provide. The first 2 tasks are for Darkness' entertainment but the final one is where he is convinced he has tricked Davis.

During the second task the others manage to contact Davis briefly. However, the whispering voices are made up of light energy and are in a world made up of darkness. Their power weakens more and more as they stay in the dark ocean and to maintain their energy they are forced to stop using their power to create communication with Davis.

The voices can't communicate with Davis when he starts the task as Darkness is using his powers of evil to block out anything not part of the task. Even in the digital dimension task, he taints it with painful darkness to block out the whispering voices.

When Davis agrees to the third task he is sent back to the real world. In the real world he is forced to give the others back the power of their digivice's so the others can once again use them.

At the beginning, before the tasks, Darkness' nightmare mirage attack doesn't work on Davis initially because he refuses to be afraid and his belief that everything will work out protects him. However, when Ken tries to comitt suicide he starts to lose his self belief because he is helpless to stop Ken.

As Davis gives back the power he borrowed the others are forced to witness the worst moments of their life because Davis has witnessed his. This is because the digiegg of miracles had been feeding off their digivices which created an emotional link between him and the others. His pain was divided into the eleven digivices - forcing each digidestined to experience some of his pain.

Davis is left in a position where he feels helpless. Now that his digivice had returned to normal it seemed pretty much useless. However, the digiegg of miracles once again reacts to Davis' emotions and reaches out for the crests/digieggs of the others to combine with his own crests. This wakes Ken up and gives Davis the power to help him.

Now The Only Thing Left To Do Is...

Thanks Immortal Fallen Radiance I really appreciate your reviews and because of this I dedicate this fanfiction (my first ever fanfiction to you)

THE END


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